Iuvā Me ut Sentiam
by Girl With a Pearl Earring
Summary: Ginny Weasley is finally sure of who she is. She's looking forward to a brand new year without regrets or reservations. But will someone unexpected, not to mention unwanted, pull her rudely out of that lovely dream? T for violence and a sensitive topic.
1. Chapter I: Initium

**Chapter I: Initium**

A/Ns: Hello and welcome to my first ever fanfic. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

This story takes place in Ginny's fifth year, Draco's (and Harry's) sixth, which would mean the sixth book, for those particularly gifted in mathematics.  As you may realize, this first chapter is as close to the beginning of the sixth book as possible.

I really don't want to change much of anything that happens in the books; this story is basically the 'behind the scenes' kind of thing. Also, the characters are supposed to act exactly as they would if J.K.R. were writing this. (too bad I'll never be as good as her)

And one more thing: all my Latin that I use in this story is genuine, because unlike most people, I can actually read it and, on good days, speak it. The title of this story in English literally means _Help Me to Feel (or Realize)_. The title of this chapter means _The Beginning_. So, if you have any other comments or questions, I'd be happy to answer them in a review. Now, without further ado…on with the show!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter book series. sigh But I do own a copy of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone _written in Latin! (You may now call the author a complete nerd. Go ahead.)

In this chapter: The mystery of Harry Potter's bloody nose, Ginny daydreams (or not so much) about Malfoy, and Some playful and exasperating banter.

Ginny Weasley sat in the Great Hall surrounded by happily chattering people and gazed at the ceiling. It had always fascinated her from her very first day at Hogwarts. Right now, it was covered with beautiful sparkling stars that flickered every now and then as a thin cloud passed over them.

When Ginny was little she would often get scolded by her mum and belittled by her brothers for staring off into space and ignoring the world around her. As she grew older, she became less of a dreamer and more of an "achiever" as her mum put it. Smiling slightly, she remembered her first day at Hogwarts. Back then, she was a shy, blushing little girl who was intimidated by almost everything. Now that she was in her fifth year, however, she was a strong-willed, independent person who stood up for whatever (or whoever, she thought dreamily as she glanced over at Harry) she believed in.

Shaking her head slightly, she reminded herself yet again that Harry would never notice her the way she wanted him to. He would always just consider her to be like a sister.

_Besides, _she thought, _Dean's a great boyfriend. _She glanced over at her current boyfriend, who was now deep in conversation with his best friend, Seamus Finnigan, assuredly defending his favorite sports team, the West Ham football team, which Ginny had learned more about than she ever wished to in the short time they had been dating.

She glanced back at Harry, who was now glowering at the Slytherin table. She quickly looked over and caught Draco Malfoy doing an apparently hilarious impression (at least to the Slytherins). She couldn't quite understand what he was trying to portray, but when she noticed the repeatedly exaggerated hand gestures towards his nose, everything seemed to click into place.

Harry had come into the Great Hall with blood all over his face. When Hermione had cleaned it off for him, he had asked, "How's my nose looking?" Ginny had been surprised by the question at the time, but now it all made sense. Malfoy must've done something to make Harry late for the feast and, in the process, given him a bloody nose.

She glared with renewed hatred at the source of the now raucous laughter coming from the Slytherin table. Oh…how she wanted to hit him with a good curse right now…a Bat-Bogey Hex…maybe a couple of random charms from that brilliant book Fred and George had given her for her birthday, _1,001 Charms, Potions, and Spells for Enemies, Siblings, or Other Pests_…and maybe slug him in what was left of his face for good measure…

"Ginny! C'mon, you've gotta back me up!" Dean said, shaking her out of reverie.

"Huh?" Ginny said, snapping her head back to the conversation.

Dean just shook his head while Seamus smirked broadly, obviously happy that Ginny couldn't help Dean in the argument. Ginny smiled apologetically at her boyfriend, but was unable to say anything more because at that exact moment, Dumbledore stood up to make his Start of Term announcements.

"The very best of evenings to you!" he began, smiling broadly and spreading his arms wide.

"What happened to his _hand_?" Seamus whispered, staring wide-eyed at the blackened remainder. Down the table, Ginny could hear Harry and Hermione discussing the same topic and what may have caused such an injury. She listened to all the whispers now surrounding them, then turned her attention back to Dumbledore, who was continuing with his speech as if everyone was listening carefully.

"…and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

Ginny shared an amused smirk with Ron before going back to listening.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn"—Slughorn stood, smiling indulgently at the students—"is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

Surely Ginny had misunderstood the headmaster. Slughorn? The Potions master? If Slughorn was teaching Potions and there were no other new teachers—she quickly scanned the staff table for confirmation—that must mean…no…surely not…

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," continued Dumbledore, "will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"No!" shouted Harry, voicing her thoughts completely. She glared up at Snape, who acknowledged the students with a mere wave of his hand, not even bothering to stand. Incensed, Ginny shifted her glare over to Dumbledore. _How could he do this?_

After a few moments of mutinous mutterings, Dumbledore resumed his speech, now addressing the subject of Voldemort and the Death Eaters and how important it was that everyone follows the rules established for the student body's safety. He paused, sweeping over the students with his blue eyes before continuing.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

Ginny got to her feet and suddenly realized just how tired she was. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned widely, dragging her sore feet toward the entrance hall. Dean poked her in the side, making her quickly lower her arms and giggle, being highly ticklish.

"Stop," she muttered, swatting his hand away.

"Just having some fun, Gin," he said, grinning.

"Oh, is it fun you want, Thomas?" she replied teasingly, poking him roughly in the side a few times.

The two laughed and continued on their way to Gryffindor Tower, bantering back and forth, and accompanied by an exasperated Seamus.

By the time Ginny stretched out on her wonderfully soft and warm four-poster bed, she was exhausted enough to drop off immediately. Before she lost consciousness, she stirred up enough energy to pull the covers over herself, then promptly fell asleep.

A/N: So??? What'd you think?? I know it's really short and to the point, but I had to have an intro sort of chapter that sets up the story. Plenty of D/G coming up soon! If you're kind enough to leave a review, I'll be kind enough to answer it with more than just the customary, "Thanks!" Don't be afraid to criticize, I'd be more than happy to improve my writing. And by criticize, I mean something like, "You really need to have more character speech." or "I didn't get enough of Ginny feelings or personality in this intro." Just as long as it's not something completely unproductive like, "This story sucks." or "You should burn yourself at the stake, you're so bad."  Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter II: Iter Incipit

Chapter II: Iter Incipit 

A/N: This chapter starts to pick up the pace a little and you finally get to catch a glimpse of Draco at a relatively close distance! (meaning closer than the distance between house tables, like last chapter) This chapter title translates to _The Journey Begins_. Enough said. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter book series. The only thing I own is the plot and characters you don't recognize. sniff sob! But I do own…(drumroll)…some abso-bloody-lutely amazing dark green cargo pants! Yes!

In this chapter: Ginny and Luna vs. the Slytherins, Lost house points and too much homework, and Crabbe is a klutz.

Ginny slept as soundly as if she had taken a Dreamless Sleeping Potion. By the time she had woken up, the rest of her dormitory was empty. Stretching and yawning, she crawled out of bed to begin her morning routine.

When she had finally gotten down to the Great Hall for breakfast, almost everyone was done eating. Professor McGonagall was already handing out the sixth year schedules, meaning that all of her fifth year friends had already left for classes.

"Oh, there you are, Miss Weasley," said Professor McGonagall, walking over to her briskly and dropping her schedule into her hands. "You ought to eat a quick breakfast before going to your first class. You're going to need it," she said keenly before walking away to finish the sixth years.

Ginny yawned, glanced at her schedule, and groaned. Defense Against the Dark Arts. With Snape. _Suddenly, it feels like this won't be the best year after all._

"What is it, Ginny?" said a familiar dreamy voice nearby, "Are you coming down with the Dratchikal Disease? Daddy said there's an epidemic going around."

"Hullo, Luna," mumbled Ginny, feeling very much not in the mood for one of Luna's insane theories. "I'm not sick. Just tired, is all. What are you still doing here?" she asked, sitting down with her at the Ravenclaw table, seeing as all her Gryffindor friends were gone.

"I was late waking up as well," she replied, picking up the schedule Ginny had placed on the table. She made a soft sympathetic noise. "Good luck with Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Thanks," said Ginny, reviving a little over her scrambled eggs and orange juice. "What's your first class?"

"Double Herbology with the Slytherins," she replied with apparent indifference.

"Will you wait for me? It would be nice to have someone to talk to so I can wake up enough to survive Snape."

"Certainly."

"Thanks."

When the two girls reached the entrance hall, Ginny checked her watch.

"Oh, I'm going to be late if I don't run," she said distractedly, starting for the grand staircase. "See you later, Luna!" she called, waving over her shoulder while starting to jog.

She suddenly felt her calf come in contact with a very hard object and she fell spectacularly, twisting in midair and landing on her backside at the foot of the grand staircase. She sat up, pushing back her long, disheveled hair, and looked around angrily for the offending object, but she needn't have bothered.

"Kneeling in front of your betters, Weasley?" said a sneering voice she had no trouble recognizing. "Well, I must say, I like the idea, but your style could use some improvement."

Her anger boiled over. Abandoning her bag, she jumped to her feet, wand clenched at her side, and strode directly up to the howling pack of Slytherins.

Before she could do anything, however, Luna had walked straight up to Malfoy and said calmly, "That wasn't nice. Perhaps you should apologize."

The Slytherins' laughter redoubled and Malfoy said coldly, "Ah, so this is your defense system, eh Weasley? It could use some maintenance."

That was all it took. Before Ginny had quite comprehended what she was doing, she had pushed Luna aside and shouted forcefully, "_Cresbucinae!_"

With nowhere to escape at point-blank range, Malfoy was hit in the face with a blast of bright orange light. He staggered back and cried out in pain. Soon, he had two bumps growing rapidly from his forehead. Before long, they turned into two long, spiraling horns at least four feet in length which caused Malfoy, feeling them rapidly in horror, to topple over because of the extra weight.

The other Slytherins jumped forward with their wands held high. Ginny and Luna had deflected at least two curses each before Professor McGonagall ran out of the Great Hall and shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_" causing all of their wands to fly into her outstretched hands.

"What happened here?" she demanded, her lips white and very thin.

The Slytherins immediately began explaining, all shouting together, until Professor McGonagall pointed to Pansy Parkinson and snapped, "You. Explain."

"We were just talking by the staircase, Professor," she began in a sniveling voice, while attempting an innocent smile. "Weasley attacked Draco and tried to curse us, so we had to defend ourselves."

"That's not true, Professor," said Luna airily. "Draco provoked Ginny and then the rest of them," she waved her hand vaguely at the group of Slytherins, "tried to curse us."

Professor McGonagall bent down to examine Malfoy, who was still on the ground, humiliated by his new horns and trying to cover them with his hands, but failing miserably.

"Hospital wing, Mr. Malfoy," she said crisply. "And a double detention for both you and Miss Weasley."

"But Professor—" Ginny tried to defend herself, but stopped at the look on McGonagall's face.

"I suggest you get to your classes, everyone," she said, handing back their wands. "You now have" she glanced at her watch, "exactly three minutes before it begins."

Ginny visibly paled and, scooping up her bag, dashed off up the staircase without another word, leaving the jeering crowd of Slytherins behind.

The rest of Ginny's day flew by in a whirlwind of homework. In fact, she had been given so much that she doubted she would be able to finish half of it before her seventh year.

Her day had just seemed to get worse everywhere she went. She couldn't remember ever having one this bad before at Hogwarts.

True to standard, as soon as she flung herself inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Snape had taken ten points from Gryffindor for her tardiness and ten points for her 'unprofessional' appearance, as he put it. As soon as she had sat down, trying to smooth out her messy hair and brush the dust off her skirt from her fall, he had assigned the entire class a two-foot long essay and five chapters to read before Thursday afternoon, which was one of the many reasons that Ginny could be found after dinner that night trudging to the library under a humongous pile of books and parchment, hoping to ease the weight slightly before Madam Pince ushered her out of the library at 8:00.

Setting the books on a nearby desk heavily, she sat down, stared at the mountain of homework and promptly dropped her head on the table in defeat. _How am I ever going to get through this year?_ She wondered wearily. If this was only the first day, she shuddered to think what kind of work she would have to do during the O.W.L.s.

Yawning and sitting upright again, she set to work on her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, which proved to be both tedious and very difficult. Pulling on her long hair in frustration, she felt a sudden yearning to be disrupted.

As if in response, there was a sudden thud on the bookcase next to her and several heavy tomes on the top row wobbled dangerously. Darting out of the books' target range and to the end of the bookcase, she listened to the hushed voices now conversing in the next row. One of them she recognized immediately, although she wished she hadn't.

"Crabbe, you idiot, we're trying to be quiet!" the Slytherin hissed at his hulking companion. "Now, I want you to stand guard over there," Ginny heard the thudding footfalls of Crabbe lumber over to the other end of bookcase, "and Goyle, you stand over there." Goyle's feet plodded closer to Ginny, who quickly moved back to her table, pretending to be working hard. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the prominent figure pass her refuge and continue to another area. He didn't even glance her way.

She heard Malfoy sigh, obviously impatient with his moronic bodyguards. Wondering what Malfoy might be doing that he needed a lookout, she quickly rapped herself over the head with her own wand, effectively using the Disillusionment Charm. Even though she had only learned it a month ago and it was still a little faulty, she decided to risk it. After all, she might learn something worth knowing. She shivered as she experienced the strange side effects and strode purposefully after Malfoy.

After searching for a couple of minutes, she found him in the Restricted Section, running his finger over the titles of the books and glancing over his shoulder to make sure he wouldn't be found out. Carefully stepping over the rope when he turned back to the books, she looked over his shoulder from a good distance. He seemed to be skimming through the titles quickly, as if he knew exactly what he wanted and only needed to find the right title.

"Yes!" he whispered suddenly to himself, pulling out a rather large, moldy looking book that was so old it looked as though the title had worn off. Just as suddenly, Ginny heard quick footsteps approaching the Restricted Section which were much too light to belong to either Crabbe or Goyle.

Malfoy's head shot up at the sound and before Ginny had time to do anything, he had bolted, running straight into her, causing the book to fly over her head and fall open on the floor and Ginny's faulty Disillusionment Charm to stop operating immediately. They both managed to keep their balance, though it was a near thing.

"Weasley!" Malfoy sneered suddenly in recognition. "Get out of my way!" He pushed her, hard. As she started to fall, she grabbed onto the nearest thing she could, his arm, causing him to lose his balance. Just as they were about to hit the ground, their bodies seemed to slow down and the book, which was right beneath them, suddenly glowed brilliantly, engulfing both of them in a strange blue light.

Ginny saw Malfoy's eyes widen in shock as a strong wind began whipping around them, howling deafeningly and causing Ginny's hair to fly around to the side. She closed her eyes tightly and prayed fervently for it to stop as they both fell through into a whirl of light and sound.

A/N: I know, I know. Cliffhanger! But definitely more D/G action in this chapter, like I promised! I know, no romantic stuff yet, but you can't just expect Ginny to swoon into his arms and proclaim her undying love, right? Right. I'm glad you agree.

As for my made-up words in this chapter:

Dratchikal Disease is something I did indeed make up. Luna does not mention it in any of the books, as far as I know. If it makes another appearance, I might have to actually tell you what it is, but for now just use your imaginations! 

Ginny's hex that she uses on Malfoy, the _Cresbucinae_ one, is taken from two Latin words, _cresco_, to grow, and _bucinae_, which means horns. So I just combined them for a one-word spell that almost literally means _Grow Horns!_

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter III: Mirus Locus

**Chapter III: Mirus Locus**

A/N: So here comes Chapter III! author screams "Duck!" as the flying chapter title nearly crushes her readers. sheepish grin Sorry!

This chapter title literally means _A Strange Place._

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, plots, or other perphenalia. Just my own sad plot. sigh But, I do own a tin whistle via Ireland thanks to my amazing Irish friend! Erin go braugh!

In this chapter: Ginny learns how to walk (again), Imaginary creatures of fear, and The Green Dragon.

Ginny felt like her whole body was being stretched out until it resembled a piece of spaghetti, then pushed through a coffee stirrer. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear anything but the screaming whirlwind engulfing her. She tried to yell, to make herself heard above the torrent, but the attempt was not only useless, it also used up the last of her precious air.

Feeling like she was going to black out, she frantically flung her arms out to feel anything solid, real, tangible in the screeching hole of blinding light. Her flying fingers came in contact with human flesh and she grabbed on blindly, gripping it as though it was her hold on reality and sanity. She felt something else wrap around behind her back and was pushed into the wonderful warmth of another human body. When she felt a pulse beating rapidly under the fingers that were still clamped onto their original hold, she realized dimly that she must be holding onto someone's wrist. _But who could that be…_

Ginny regained consciousness about a second before she hit the ground. With the result that she experienced all the pain of having the wind knocked out of her lungs. Gasping for breath and still holding tightly onto her savior's wrist, she curled into the fetal position and willed the air to come more willingly into her withered lungs.

She heard someone coughing violently next to her and felt him try to pull his wrist out of her grasp. When she just clenched her hand more firmly around it, he attempted to pry her fingers off, but with no success. Getting very annoyed, he snapped, or at least tried to, but it came out as more of a croak, "Weasley, get off!"

Recognizing the voice at once, Ginny immediately snatched her hand back as though any further contact with him would surely kill her. Heaving a few more painful breaths, she carefully raised herself into a sitting position. Malfoy was standing a few paces away, examining his wrist, which seemed to be sporting an angry red handprint.

"Now look what you did, Weasley!" he managed to snap this time after clearing his throat. When she just continued to wheeze while massaging her aching chest, he glanced over in annoyance.

"Can't you be quiet? What's the matter with you?" he asked, momentarily forgetting about his damaged wrist.

"Can't—breathe—landed—on—back—" she gasped out, unable to get out a complete sentence without her abdomen constricting painfully. She grimaced, trying to get her situation under control.

"Well, while you're dealing with that…" he sneered, walking briskly out of the forest clearing they had been dropped in.

"What?" Ginny gulped wildly, trying to stand but falling back down with a thump. "Don't leave me!" But he was already walking down a seemingly well-trod path, with no apparent desire to turn around and help her.

"What a bloody git!" she hissed, lifting herself into a crawling position and attempting to push herself up. She had no intention of being alone in this place, whatever it was, even if it meant speaking to Malfoy. When she finally managed to push herself to her feet, after falling five times in a row, she staggered around the clearing, nearly toppling over again, until she regained her balance with the help of a nearby tree trunk.

_This is pathetic_, she thought fiercely to herself. _I can't even walk. I mean, I know it was a long fall, but this is just ridiculous. _

After waiting a few minutes for her head to stop spinning, she took a few tentative steps away from the tree and, to her relief, managed to walk in a relatively straight line. She immediately set off up the path that Malfoy had taken about ten minutes ago.

Although it was well marked, the path was so winding and narrow that Ginny almost felt herself getting dizzy. Stopping for a moment to make sure she didn't fall down yet again, she looked carefully at the forest for the first time since landing there. There didn't seem to be anything blatantly odd about it, just normal trees with normal green leaves and normal birds and squirrels running or flitting about making normal noises. Right? Then why did she have this horrible nagging feeling that something about this place just wasn't right? _There's nothing wrong with it_, she reasoned with herself, but the nasty prickling feeling simply refused to go away. She suddenly shivered unexpectedly as cold fear swept through her whole body, momentarily paralyzing her.

She suddenly _knew_ that there was something completely wrong, and before the logical part of her mind could make her reconsider, she had bolted down the path, heading for the last person she ever thought she would turn to for comfort.

As she raced down the track in search of Malfoy, she thought she heard some horrible rending screeches in the distance along with the fell swoop of musty air. Not even daring to glance back for fear of being paralyzed with fright again, she only sprinted faster. The terrible noises were getting closer and a foul stench seemed to seep out of the suddenly stale air above her. Her mind screaming with the agony of fear, she ran as she had never run in her life, speeding along the narrow, winding path as though she was a marathon racer, grabbing onto trees to swing around the bends, and pumping her arms and legs faster with every stride.

She came upon Malfoy so suddenly that they almost had a repeat of their last meeting, but she stopped herself just in time. He had whipped around and was now staring at her as if she was the craziest person alive, either magical or Muggle. Ginny knew she must look a mess: she hadn't had time to even dust herself off from her numerous falls and her wild flight must have left her with a very crazed, windblown look.

"Now what's wrong with you?" he asked, obviously irritated.

"Hurry!" she cried, shoving him around and trying to push him up the path, but without much success. "We have to move! There's some horrible things coming! I heard them howling and screeching and the air went all funky and it felt almost like dementors, but they don't make those kind of noises, as far as I know, and…" She trailed off, realizing that she was rambling and probably making her situation worse by sounding even more insane than she looked.

Malfoy was indeed staring at her as though he believed she had just escaped from St. Mungo's. "What on earth are you talking about?" he asked, almost as if he was a little frightened by her crazed speech. "There were no noises…do you hear anything now?"

Thoroughly bewildered, Ginny stopped panicking for a moment and listened to the now peaceful forest. _What in the world?_ she wondered.

"But…but…" she spluttered, trying to make sense of the strange occurrence, "I heard them, I didn't imagine it! I swear, they were there…and I was running really fast to get away…and they were going to attack me at any moment…" She stopped, staring desperately at Malfoy, willing him to tell her that she wasn't crazy, that yes, he had heard the creatures, that of course she wasn't lying, and they should move on as quickly as possible, but he just stared at her, shocked and more than a little confused.

Suddenly noticing how out of breath she was, she leaned against a nearby tree and stared off through the forest, completely baffled. The birds were once again chirping merrily as they flitted from branch to branch, now and then chasing away a squirrel that had gotten too close to their nests.

Malfoy was still staring at her as if he was worried about her sanity. He cleared his throat anxiously.

"Er…well, maybe we should move on," he suggested awkwardly, wanting Weasley to come to her senses. Even though he loathed her in her normal state, this condition was just too unnerving for him to handle at the moment.

She turned and blinked at him, breathing hard and obviously still confused.

He sighed and, pulling out his wand and pointing it at her chest, muttered, "_Laxa._"

She immediately felt her breathing return to normal and her mind become much calmer.

"Thanks," she mumbled, surprised. "What was that?"

"Just a relaxing charm for the mind and body," he replied, returning almost at once to his usual drawling manner, now that she seemed to be as sane as a Weasley can get. "Now if you're done spewing off crazy theories about imaginary creatures," he continued, receiving an icy glare in response, "We can move on." And with that, he started walking, but Ginny grabbed his arm and swung him around before he could leave her again.

"Not yet," she answered in reply to his scowl. "I need a few questions answered before we continue our oh-so-lovely journey."

"Like what?" he snapped impatiently.

"Like, where are we, how did we get here, what was that book, and why were you looking for it in the first place?" she spouted off.

"As to where we are, I have no idea, but we came here through some sort of portal, almost like Apparition. The book and why I was looking for it is none of your business."

"So you were looking for a book in the _Restricted_ Section, which, may I point out, houses many dangerous, and therefore _restricted_, items, and you understand very little about the book in question," she said very slowly as though speaking to someone with the maturity level of a two-year-old, "Well, sounds like you thought that through really well. Congratulations on a superb plan, Malfoy."

"Shut up, Weasley," he sneered, "I wasn't asking _your_ opinion."

"And what do you mean, you don't know where we are?" she asked as though there had been no interruption, "If you knew there was a portal in that book, you should know where it leads to."

"I didn't know there was a portal, you imbecile," he hissed angrily, "I just figured it out when we came through. And judging from the way we both passed out, it was probably only made for one person."

"Oh," said Ginny thoughtfully, completely unaffected by his anger and annoyance.

"So the only thing I can tell you," he continued, eyeing her with disdain, "is to watch your step and stick with me so we can get out again."

"Then why on earth did you leave me when I could barely stand up straight?" she demanded angrily.

"I was going to turn back around if you didn't show up in a few minutes, but I figured you would be okay," he said airily, dismissing her complaint with a wave of his hand.

"Your concern is touching," she muttered more to herself than to him.

"The only reason I even considered it is because we need to be together when we get out since we came in together," he said as if he wanted to make it perfectly clear that there was absolutely no other reason to show concern for a Weasley.

She sighed, starting to get irritated. "Fine, but what are we going to do for sleeping arrangements tonight?" she asked, trying to change the subject to a more practical one.

"Excuse me?"

"Where are we going to sleep, Malfoy?" she asked impatiently.

"Hopefully we'll find an inn or someone who's willing to shelter us," he replied, "But I do hope it's at least a respectable house. I would rather sleep outside than in a Muggle's house."

"That can be arranged."

"Shut up."

And thus began their journey. By nightfall, they had been traveling for almost four hours and had seen no sign of civilization. It was starting to seem hopeless and just when they fell to arguing whether they should just transfigure their robes into sleeping bags and sleep on the path, Ginny spotted a rather large cottage on the crest of the next hill, puffing thick, gray smoke from the squat stone chimney.

Happily racing up the hill, they stopped before the door to read the posted sign. It read:

Welcome to _The Green Dragon_

Rooms available for goblins, humans, shades, trolls, giants, and many others!

Fees vary on number and size of creatures. Trading now accepted in place of currency!

must be eight feet tall or under

"Wow," whispered Ginny, "maybe we should just sleep outside."

"No, I don't think they'll hurt us," Malfoy answered, "After all, it has humans on the list. But what's a shade?"

"I've never heard of them. Where's Hermione when you need her, huh?" Ginny said, wondering what her friend was doing now. Malfoy just grimaced, but refrained from openly insulting Hermione at the moment. They had more important things to worry about.

He pushed open the swinging door, Ginny right behind him. Ginny's first impression was that she had walked into an opposite reality where all the magical creatures existed peacefully together, cooperating and getting along. Of course, that wasn't exactly what was happening even in this strange land, but Ginny was so shocked at seeing so many feared and hated creatures sitting in the same room not tearing each other's heads off that she may have exaggerated the situation a little.

It was a normal sized inn entrance hall, with a fire blazing cheerfully in a corner. A large group of goblins sat next to the fire, their swarthy faces lit by the blaze, cackling in Gobbledegook over a large pot of treasure. Two Hagrid-sized men, who Ginny realized were just very small giants, sat in another corner, conversing in what they obviously thought to be quiet voices, but which thundered around the room nonetheless. In the middle of the hall there was a rowdy bunch of imps and large pixies squabbling over a game of dice, while a few others jumped around the edge of the circle, trying to see over their brethren's shoulders.

Three shady tables lined the edge of the room. One was occupied by a creature that Ginny could only assume was a vampire, as she had never seen one before. Her waxy visage was so sunken and distorted, it looked more like a skull than a face, with dull red eyes staring out of the sockets with a sinister glint. Her hair was covered with something that resembled oil, but it looked like it had once been deep red. The table next to the vampire was occupied by three imposing figures all wearing hooded black cloaks. Ginny was immediately reminded of dementors, but these creatures were different, though she couldn't quite put her finger on the reason. The last was occupied by the most unlikely pair of drinking mates Ginny had ever seen. One was a medium sized mountain troll, roughly seven to eight feet high, and smelling almost as terrible as Ron's sweaty Quidditch socks. The other was almost certainly a man, but Ginny had never seen a man with vivid yellow eyes before. _Maybe he had a transfiguration accident, _she mused.

Suddenly realizing that she had been standing in the front of the room for almost five minutes, she quickly rushed over to where Malfoy was talking to the inn master, who turned out to be a goblin.

Just as she reached them, Malfoy turned around and silently handed her a key, then moved to the stairway, motioning for her to follow him.

"That's your room," he said, pointing to the first one on the left, as he went on to the second one on the left.

"Thanks," she said, "How did you pay for these?"

"I had some spare gold," he said, "Good thing too, otherwise we would've had to sleep outside."

"Must be nice to be rich," said Ginny absentmindedly, yawning widely.

"Yeah," said Malfoy, smirking, "You should try it sometime."

And with that, he vanished into his room. Ginny stared at the door he had just disappeared into, forcing back the urge to run in after him and hit him with a good jinx. _Even if he is a git, he did just pay for your room,_ she reminded herself.

Sighing, she let herself into her small, but cozy room. Ginny could tell that it had been set up for a woman to use. The bed was smaller than most, but very soft, with lavender sheets and blankets. There was a small vanity mirror on the dresser, beside a vase of gorgeous deep purple flowers. Sniffing them gingerly, Ginny sighed happily. They smelled just like her mother always did when she had spent a day in the garden. She transfigured her school clothes into some pajamas, and got ready for bed. Leaning back on the wonderfully soft pillows, Ginny smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

A/N: So, definitely much longer than the last chapter. Anyway, what'd you think? Do you like it? I know it's a little different and quite a bit confusing right now, but hopefully it will all make sense soon.

I have one made-up thing in this chapter:

Draco's spell that he uses on Ginny to help her relax, _Laxa_, literally means, in Latin, _Relax_, as an imperative.

References to other stories or things:

_The Green Dragon_, the name of the inn that Ginny and Draco are staying at, comes from _The Lord of the Rings_ by the immortal J.R.R. Tolkien. It is mentioned a few times and seems to be Merry and Pippin's favorite inn.

The creatures mentioned as _shades_ I took from the _Eragon_ trilogy, by Christopher Paolini. So far, I've only taken the name, but I may take some of their characteristics as well, or I may not, we'll see.

The final reference is taken from _The Suite Life of Zack and Cody_, a Disney Channel show which I usually don't like that much, but this line was just funny. Ginny says, "Must be nice to be rich." And Draco answers with, "Yeah, you should try it sometime." This is a conversation between Maddie and London, for all those who watch the show.

Thanks for reading and please drop me a review! Any are welcome!


	4. Chapter IV: Timor et Cura

**Chapter IV: Timor et Cura**

A/N: This chapter title translates to _Fear and Concern_.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, plots, or other things found in the books. Just my own plot. _However_, I do own…a real peacock feather that I found in Florida and measures exactly 3 1/2 feet long!

In this chapter: Wake-up calls, An explanation of shades, and The many mood modulationsof Malfoy.

Ginny woke to someone roughly shaking her awake. Rolling over onto her other side, she mumbled sleepily, "Five more minutes, Ron."

She heard the person give an exasperated sigh, then he hissed, "I'm not your brother! Get up!" She gave an incoherent mutter, still drifting between reality and dreams.

She felt someone grab her shoulders and she was abruptly yanked around to her other side. "Weasley, wake up!" he said, shaking her shoulders. _Wait a minute…she knew that voice…and it most certainly didn't belong to any of her family members…_

She snapped her eyes open, fully awake, and found herself staring directly into Draco Malfoy's eyes. She had never seen them at such close proximity before and was startled to see that they were much darker than she had originally thought. Any color she associated with Malfoy was pale and transparent, his face, his hair, and his gray eyes. Why had she never noticed that his eyes actually had a lot more depth and color? It was almost as if she could see a different person looking back at her from those depths.

Before she could give it any more thought, the moment was gone; he had let go of her and walked over to her dark window, staring down at the ground. _Wait…it was still dark outside? Why had he woken her up?_

Rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't still dreaming, she looked back at the window where Malfoy was silhouetted against the night, his hair and face even paler than usual in contrast to the darkness.

Suddenly irritated and very annoyed, she got out of bed, straightening her clothes and hair, and walked over to Malfoy.

"And just why, pray tell, did you feel like waking me up in the middle of the night?" she asked in a mockingly sweet voice.

Malfoy spared her one cursory glance ofannoyance before pointing out the window in answer. She looked out, still angry, and felt her anger vanish in a completely different emotion: fear.

"What are they?" she gasped, gazing out the window at the spectacle below.

"Shades," Malfoy's voice was oddly void of emotion, "The innkeeper warned me about them. He said they come out mainly during dusk, but sometimes in the middle of the night."

The shades were gathered around a large bonfire a little way from the inn entrance. Ginny immediately recognized them as the same creatures she had seen before at one of the shady inn tables in the entrance hall. There were at least twenty of them now, and they all had their hoods drawn up over their faces. Although they weren't doing anything frightening, Ginny still felt as if she was being slowly paralyzed with terror. It was the same feeling she had had in the forest yesterday.

The shades suddenly gave a long shout together. It was nothing like Ginny had ever heard before; it was melancholy and almost beautiful, but at the same time terrifying. She felt herself getting caught up in the cry and she suddenly had the insane wish to run outside and join in the circle of shades. Malfoy suddenly pulled the curtains closed over the windows, submerging them into almost complete darkness, with the light from the bonfire still bleeding through the curtains' fabric. The change was immediately effective and Ginny felt herself being awakened from the daze she didn't even know she was in.

"_Lumos_," he murmured, holding his wand up so they could see each other.

She was almost angry with him; she wanted to know what the shades were going to do next. _What was so wrong about that?_ She lifted her hand to pull the curtains back, but he caught it and pushed it back to her side.

"Why," Ginny started to ask, but stopped at the look on his face. The expression was so out of place on Malfoy's face that it took a moment for Ginny to recognize it: concern. And then it was gone; cold indifference was once again the only prominent feature. Ginny wondered if she had imagined it. After all, it had only been for a fleeting moment…

"Shades are very unique creatures, from what I could gather from the innkeeper," he began in explanation. "Their faces vaguely resemble humans, but nobody seems to know what their bodies look like. They mostly travel in groups, which makes them incredibly dangerous. If you were to meet one shade, you would probably be okay, but more than that and nothing is guaranteed."

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny, cursing the quaver that had appeared in her voice. She was still recovering from the strange daze the appearance of the shades had given her.

Malfoy looked closely at her face for a moment, then continued, "Shades are like dementors in that they don't need normal sustenance like other creatures, but instead feed on fear. Their presence is enough to make most people become paralyzed with fear. A few can resist their power, but not many."

"What do they do with those people?" she asked, a little more calmly.

"Usually they simply paralyze their prey and draw as much fear out of them as possible. Sometimes this causes death, especially in smaller animals whose nervous systems can't take much stress. They rarely prey on larger creatures, like trolls or giants, because they usually can't be frightened too much since they aren't the most intelligent beings. That's why most of their victims are humans. Humans can handle stress and are easily frightened."

"The innkeeper told you all of that?" Ginny asked skeptically.

"I had to ask a lot of questions," Malfoy smirked wryly, "but yes."

"Why did you bother?" she asked. It seemed very strange to her that Malfoy would exert any energy more than necessary, even if it was asking a few questions.

"When he mentioned them the first time, they sounded like the creatures you were ranting about yesterday," he replied, his face surprisingly blank, as if he was avoiding emotion because he wasn't sure what emotion would show.

Ginny mulled over this new information a little, than realized something. If these creatures were so horrible, there must be something about them Malfoy wasn't telling her.

"So all they do to their victims is scare them?" she asked, raising her eyebrows slightly, "Nothing else?"

"That's what I asked," he said, "But the innkeeper said that all those who have witnessed shade attacks are in no condition to tell us what happened."

"What do you mean?" she asked apprehensively. Surely shades didn't suck out souls like dementors…

"Relax, Weasley," he sneered, "Shades aren't as bad as dementors, but they're very close. If they aren't killed from too much stress, people are mostly driven mad. They usually can't remember what their own name is, let alone the details of shade attacks."

"That's awful," she said sadly, thinking of Neville's parents. Then she remembered who she was talking to and quickly tried to think of something else to avoid getting angry with him while they were having an almost civilized conversation.

"But why," Ginny started to ask, uncertain how to begin, "I mean, how did I get all," she waved her hands vaguely around her face trying to explain the strange dazed feeling from earlier.

"Sometimes, in large groups, they draw people in with their cries"—Ginny remembered the unearthly effect the group shout had had on her— "and feed on them that way. The innkeeper warned me that there was probably going to be a gathering tonight and that I should be on the alert because humans are always most vulnerable during sleep. Some people have even been known to walk right into shade gatherings while sleeping."

"How did he know there was going to be one tonight?" asked Ginny suspiciously.

"He said they were getting restless."

"Oh," she replied. "So are we just going to stay awake all night?"

Malfoy smirked, "Do you have any other ideas?"

"We could take turns sleeping," she suggested, "while the other person watches."

"Okay," he agreed.

Another long cry sounded from outside the closed curtains. Ginny shivered uncontrollably, fighting the fresh urge to jump out the window and run to the bonfire. Malfoy looked at her and she thought she saw some concern in his eyes again, but then it was gone, to be replaced by a dark scowl.

"I'll go first," he said almost menacingly.

"Okay, thanks," she said uncertainly, wondering at his strange mood changes. She walked back over to her bed and lay down, trying to recapture some of her earlier dreams. The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was an image of Draco Malfoy standing at the closed window, one side of his face exposed to the red light coming from the fire and the other side shrouded in darkness.

Draco didn't know what was going on with him. He had just let Weasley go to sleep first, voluntarily! What was wrong with him? If they were back in school, he was sure that he would have forced her to stay up all night and gone straight back to sleep without a second thought. But when she had shivered like that, he couldn't help but feel some compassion toward her, an emotion he wasn't even aware he possessed. Maybe it was something about this strange place they had been dropped in. Yeah, that must be it. Why else would he behave like this toward Weasley, one of his worst enemies?

And then there was the unsettling moment when she had woken up abruptly and he had been able to see her eyes at a much closer proximity than he was accustomed to. He was surprised to discover that they weren't brown or blue, as he would have suspected, but hazel. The outer rims were a mixture of gray and green, which slowly turned to a brown tinge as it neared her pupils. He didn't know why that had seemed so interesting at the time, but he had stared at her eyes for what felt like a full minute before letting go of her shoulders and walking back to the window.

He glanced over at her from his position next to the window. She was smiling happily, her bright hair spread out over the pillow, obviously sleeping. Draco couldn't help but let a small smile spread across his face. Suddenly disgusted with himself, he turned away and glowered at the window. There was something seriously wrong with him.

But despite all of his musing and self-deprecating, when the time came to wake her for her turn, he found that he couldn't do it. His hand hovered over her shoulder, his mind willing him to reach out and shake her awake so he could get some rest. _Why do you care about waking her up?_ the logical part of his mind asked, _She's your enemy, remember? She doesn't deserve to sleep peacefully while you stay awake all night!_

But still he couldn't do it. She looked so happy, so peaceful, he just didn't have the heart to wake her from whatever she was dreaming about. _Just one more hour,_ he placated his logical mind. He sat down at the stool next to the dresser and leaned against the wall, gazing at the sleeping Weasley. Before long, his head dropped onto his chest and he fell sound asleep. And that was how Ginny found him when she woke the following morning, snoring loudly with his white-blonde hair all over his face.

A/N: Wow, we actually get some of Draco's POV in this chapter! Hope you liked it! And please let me know if you think Draco is getting way OOC. That's one of my pet peeves and I really don't want that to happen in this story.

So, I think I've finally got the outline of this story in my head, I just have to fill in the gaps. So, that's exciting, right? Please let me know how you feel about this story so far, I love feedback! It helps me get inspired when I know that there are actually people who read this fic.

I don't think I have any references or made-up things in this chapter. I know I talked about shades a lot, but the shades I created are going to be different from the ones in the _Eragon_ trilogy, so the only thing I took from that book is the name.

Also, about Ginny's eye color, there is a reason why I picked hazel. Normally red heads have brown or blue eyes, so I thought I would make it something interesting and a little different to capture Draco's interest. (hint, hint) Therefore, please don't review just to say, 'You got Ginny's eye color wrong.' I know, I'm a bad Harry Potter fan.

Thanks for sticking with me this far!


	5. Chapter V: Nova Amicitia

**Chapter V: Nova Amicitia**

A/N: Okay, so I finally have the rest of this story completely thought out. It will have a total of approximately 8 or, if you're lucky, 9 more chapters. And now, on with the show!

This chapter title translates to_ A New Friendship_.

Disclaimer: Someday I'll be a fantastic writer, whose glorious fictional world will be even better than the Harry Potter universe…but until then, all I own is this plot and the clothes on my back. (which happen to be very stylish)

In this chapter: Blinding sunlight, Riddles revealed, and A fork in the road.

Ginny just couldn't make sense of it. Why hadn't Malfoy woken her up? She started to get ready, transfiguring her pajamas back into clothes and putting her robes back on.

_Maybe he fell asleep before it was my turn_, she mused.

No, he would've woken you up before he fell asleep, argued her mind. 

She glanced over at him, wondering if she should ask him or not. If she did, it might result in a less-than-pleasant conversation and she didn't want one of those first thing in the morning. Sighing, she decided to go down and order breakfast before waking him up.

The inn entrance hall seemed very big and empty, compared to last night. There was only one other person in the whole room, the man with the strange yellow eyes Ginny had noticed yesterday, staring into the embers of the fireplace. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she hurried over to the front desk, where a goblin was sitting, reading a book.

"Can I help you, miss?" the goblin asked even though his tone suggested that helping her was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He was sitting on a stool so high, it seemed that he was taller than Ginny.

"Do you serve breakfast here?" she asked.

"Yes, we have a standard breakfast consisting of 2 eggs, a stack of toast, and either bacon or sausage," droned the goblin, looking bored, "or a grand breakfast consisting of 5 eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, and smoked kipper."

"Two standard breakfasts then," she said, "both with scrambled eggs and one sausage, one bacon."

"That'll be 10 pieces of silver and it'll be ready in about 15 minutes," he rattled off, examining his nails and looking supremely unconcerned.

"Oh, um," said Ginny, blushing, "I'll just pay you when it's ready." She hadn't anticipated the cost and realized with embarrassment that Malfoy would have to pay for it again.

The goblin barely nodded his head before going back to his book.

Ginny hurried back up the staircase and went into her room, where Malfoy was still snoring quite loudly in the same position she had left him in. He looked like he was in a very deep sleep. Gingerly, she grasped his right shoulder and shook it. He mumbled something and went straight back to snoring. _Well that was a great success, _she thought sarcastically.

Deciding on more drastic measures, she walked over to the window, ready to pull the drapes open. "Malfoy, get up!" she said loudly. He snorted, his snoring momentarily interrupted, and muttered an incoherent sentence. "Malfoy!" she half-shouted. He snorted again, but this time moved his head so that it was tilted slightly back instead of forward. She quickly measured the angles required for her plan to work and smiled mischievously. _Perfect,_ she thought.

She pulled the curtains back, letting in a burst of brilliant daylight precisely on Malfoy's face. Finally Malfoy jerked awake and, upon opening his eyes, let out a half-strangled cry and fell sideways off the chair, trying to shield his eyes. Ginny collapsed on the floor, giggling uncontrollably.

"And just what is so funny?" he asked haughtily, standing up and trying to maintain some dignity by straightening his hair and robes, although he was still squinting from the light. Ginny just continued to laugh. She couldn't help it; she knew she hadn't had a reason to laugh for two straight days and probably wouldn't have another opportunity for a long time.

Malfoy stared at her incredulously for a few more minutes, then seeming to give her up for a lost cause, walked back to his room to get ready.

By the time Ginny had finally ceased her laughter and was in the process of clutching her side and wheezing, Malfoy had reappeared in the doorway, apparently waiting patiently.

"Are you well?" he asked calmly while examining his fingernails.

"Yes," she replied, standing up and still grinning broadly, "but it was very funny, you must admit."

"I don't really see the humor in the situation," he said mildly, quirking his eyebrows at her expression, "but whatever makes you happy."

"C'mon," she said, starting down the stairs, "Breakfast should be ready by now." She paused, remembering the price, then deciding not to worry herself about it, said, "And it costs 10 sickles."

Malfoy didn't say anything, so assuming his silence indicated acceptance, she continued down the stairs.

Breakfast was a silent affair, punctured by small attempts at conversation from Ginny, which were always answered by a sharp reply from Malfoy. By the time they'd finished, Ginny wished she hadn't laughed quite so much this morning. Now, because of that one incident, she was sure that Malfoy was going to make her miserable the rest of the day.

Without so much as a word, Malfoy pushed back his chair, paid the innkeeper, and headed up to the rooms. Glaring at his retreating form, she sighed heavily, cleared up the dishes, and returned them to the goblin innkeeper.

Deciding to wait in the entrance hall, Ginny sat down in a comfortable chair and prepared herself for a difficult day. She glanced around the room and noticed in confusion that the yellow-eyed man was looking at her quite brazenly. When he slowly beckoned her with a gloved hand, she hesitantly stood and approached his table. She stopped a good three feet away, looking questioningly at him. He merely gestured to the seat opposite him, never taking his eyes off hers.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked nervously, taking the offered seat slowly.

He shook his head gently. "It is not I who need help, but you." His voice was unlike anything Ginny had ever heard. It had a breathy and inconsistent quality that made Ginny want to shiver and cry at the same time.

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously. He didn't answer, just continued to look at her. His eyes reminded Ginny of a lemur, an animal she had come across a picture of once in a library book. They were so solidly yellow that they appeared artificial.

When it became apparent that he wasn't about to answer her, she asked, "Do you know something that can help me get out of here?"

"You must ask the right question," was all he said.

Confused, Ginny thought a moment before asking, "Do you know anything about a portal? A sort of pathway between places?"

His eyes glinted gold for a moment as he seemed to sit up straighter. He began to chant, "During the rising and the setting of the sun, in the course of every day, the river glows a blue the color of Hrun," he paused for a moment, seeming to consider the last line, "and that is all I shall say."

"What river?" she asked excitedly. The portal that she and Malfoy had come through had glowed blue too. Maybe this river was the answer!

"The Only River," he said stoically.

"What do you mean?" she asked impatiently. _Why couldn't he make sense?_ He merely shook his head and settled back in his chair.

She tried again. "Where is this river?"

"The Dark Area," he replied.

"Where's that?"

He shook his head. Ginny thought for a moment before asking, "Is it dangerous to get there?"

He looked at her suspiciously for a moment, as if she was trying to be stupid, before nodding his head.

"Can you tell me something to help me get through?"

She thought she saw a glint of gold in his eyes, but he made no move to answer. After another moment, she asked, "Can you tell me something about the sort of creatures that live there? Something I can use to avoid danger?"

The golden glint intensified and he sat up straighter. "When you're faced with the hooded terror this is what you should do: Be not afraid, find a face to dissuade, the masked terror from you."

"The masked terror?" she asked fearfully, "What's that?"

The man shook his head slowly, looked at her for a long moment, then stated, "That is all I shall say." He looked back into the embers of the fire, as if Ginny were no longer there. She stared at him in disbelief and then annoyance. _Why couldn't he give her a straight-out answer?_

Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled from the chair and dragged toward the door. Tearing herself out of Malfoy's grasp, she asked angrily, "What was that for?"

A strange expression crossed Malfoy's face but was replaced by his customary sneer a moment later. "You shouldn't talk to people you don't know. Especially him."

"What do you care?" she asked in annoyance.

"I already told you the extent of my concern for you is only for you to be in one piece so that we can get back through the portal," he said venomously.

Surprised at his swift anger, she tried to backtrack. "Do you even know that man? He was trying to help me! Maybe you shouldn't judge so quickly."

He glanced back at the man, then walked quickly out the doorway. Confused, Ginny followed him. As soon as they were out of earshot, Malfoy turned to her and continued their conversation as if they had never stopped talking.

"The innkeeper warned me about him," he said, "His name is Clavin, he's part shade, and he only speaks in riddles." He took in her shocked expression, then said, "The innkeeper didn't hold a very high opinion of him. He said he's always causing trouble and seems to make people more confused than anything."

"He's part shade?" Ginny asked breathlessly.

"Yes," he said impatiently, "Didn't you notice his eyes?"

"Of course I did," she replied in irritation, "but how was I supposed to know the color of his eyes meant he was part shade?"

"All shades have unnaturally colored eyes," he replied, as if anyone with half a brain would know that, "like yellow, for instance."

Ginny didn't bother to answer; they would probably get in a fight again.

After a moment, his curiosity seemed to triumph over his contempt. "What did he say to you?"

They started down the path and Ginny related the entire conversation. Malfoy remained silent for a while with his brow furrowed.

"It sounds as if this river is the portal," he said quietly, more to himself than Ginny, "I asked the innkeeper about the area, but he didn't know anything beyond a few miles so we'll just have to find this dark area ourselves." He paused, frowning, then said to Ginny, "Do you think this 'hooded terror' thing is shades?"

"Yeah," she said, "that's what I thought. And it makes sense that he would know about them, seeing as he's part shade himself. But what did he mean when he said 'be not afraid, find a face to dissuade'?"

"Well, the 'be not afraid' part is obvious," he said, forgetting to speak scornfully because he was thinking, "but I don't know about the other part."

Ginny had a sudden idea. "It's just like how to ward off a boggart or a dementor!" she exclaimed excitedly, "You just have to find an opposite emotion to make them go away!"

Malfoy considered this for a moment. "That might actually be a smart idea, Weasley," he said.

Ginny was so excited at solving the riddle that she forgot to feel insulted. "So the opposite of fear would be…"

"Confidence?" suggested Malfoy indifferently.

"Or maybe laughter," she mused eagerly, "like a boggart."

"Maybe," he said, sounding unconvinced.

"Or maybe a mixture of confidence, laughter, anger, irritation, and happiness," she said sarcastically, annoyed at him being unenthusiastic.

He looked at her closely. "Was that sarcasm?" he asked.

"No, not at all," she replied, smiling a little. _If I can't have fun laughing with him,_ she decided,_ then I'll have fun laughing at him._

The next two days were spent traveling. Since they encountered no inns, at night they had to transfigure their robes into sleeping bags and take turns watching for any dangerous creatures. They were lucky though; the only event worth recounting involved Ginny waking up in the middle of the night screaming and trying to kill the spider in her sleeping bag while Malfoy laughed hysterically.

By noon of the third day, Ginny knew something had changed between them, though she wasn't exactly sure what. There were times, which were becoming more and more frequent, when they almost seemed like they were friends. It was strange, to say the least. Although she couldn't pinpoint exactly when this change came about, she could feel it. The tension that had so often existed between them had vanished, leaving behind a bond of, well, not friendship exactly, but companionship. It had a solid and tangible quality to it that made it seem more real than even some of Ginny's other friendships. It scared her and at the same time comforted her. As strange as it might seem, she was starting to look forward to their time together.

About an hour before sunset, they came upon a fork in the road. The left side was broad and well trodden. Farther down the path, the trees seemed to thin and Ginny thought she could see a green meadow in the distance. The right side was much more narrow, unclear, and sinister looking. The trees were much closer together and seemed to get more gnarled and misshapen the farther the path progressed.

"Looks like we should go that way," Ginny said, pointing down the right hand side.

"What?" said Malfoy disbelievingly, "Are you crazy? It's got death written all over it!"

"I know," Ginny replied, "which means it probably leads to the dark area. Isn't that what we're looking for?"

"Well, yes," he said hesitantly, "but, I mean, c'mon, we probably won't last an hour if we go that way."

"Well, it's the only choice we've got," she said. "Unless you want to stay here forever."

Malfoy paused, seeming to actually consider that option. Just when Ginny was going to ask if he was feeling okay, he said, "Okay, fine. But if I get eaten or turned into a vampire, you'll have to live with the guilt."

"Fine by me," she said, smiling, as they both started down the new path. She paused, hit by a sudden thought.

"Do you think there's really vampires in there?" she asked nervously.

"I hope not," he said.

A/N: Hi there. Just a quick note: Review!

Both of the riddles that Clavin recites are 100 mine. So no stealing!  Clavin is also an original character, although there's not much to him, I claim all rights.


	6. Chapter VI: Obscurae Disceptationes

**Chapter VI: Obscurae Disceptationes**

A/N: Okay, I've been really nervous about posting this chapter because it has Draco and Ginny's first real conflict. The dialogue always seemed a bit rough to me and it still doesn't seem quite right, but I tried my best. I hope you enjoy!

This chapter title translates to _Dark Discussions_.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter book series. Duh. But I do own a genuine Dr. Seuss hat (from 'Cat in the Hat') which makes me exactly 6'9" tall!

In this chapter: The Dark Area of the forest, Draco and Ginny have a 'friendly' discussion, and A scream in the night.

By the time the last of the sun's rays had disappeared from the sky and the first stars had come out, Ginny heartily wished that they had taken the safer route. Even though they had already lit their wands, it seemed to do little good. The trees closed in around them, stretching out their gnarled limbs, beckoning them off the path, and casting them into a stifling darkness. A few times they had to stop and get their bearings after almost wandering off through the wood.

By the time night had really fallen, bringing with it the thickest darkness Ginny had ever experienced, things seemed to get much worse. The path was hardly discernable at all and they frequently had to stop to make sure it was still beneath their feet. The old trees seemed to soak in the surrounding darkness, blocking out the stars and making them appear more ominous than ever. Their wands seemed to be the only light in the whole world as they moved slowly along. Even the air was thick and heavy, making it more difficult to breathe properly. Ginny felt as though she was being slowly suffocated by the forest, pressed in on all sides. She could see why shades lived here.

Suddenly, far off in the distance, they heard a long, piercing cry shatter the heavy night. It went on for almost a full minute before dying away, leaving the woods ringing with the inhuman sound. They stood frozen on the path like frightened animals, imagining the most terrible stories they had ever heard about creatures of the night.

"What do you suppose?" whispered Ginny. Even the sound of her own barely audible voice sounded horribly out of place in that intense blackness. Malfoy seemed to be thinking along the same lines; he snapped quickly out of his trance and looked round at her with wide eyes. If she didn't know any better, she would have said he was startled.

"Maybe we should try to find a place for the night," he said casually after recovering from his fright, "Whatever that thing was, it sounded far away, so we probably have nothing to worry about."

Ginny just nodded, not trusting herself to speak again.

After another fifteen minutes of walking they came across a clearing filled with starlight. This was the first spot they had seen that wasn't covered by the oppressive darkness and so, without questioning as to why or how it got there, they made camp and Ginny volunteered to watch first.

Ginny sat by the edge of her sleeping bag, trying to stay alert to any sound in the dark forest. The moon had long since risen, making the little light Ginny could procure with her wand unnecessary. She shivered, affected by the eerie quality of the woods, and checked her watch.

_Just a few more minutes_, she assured her tired body. Her head nodded onto her chest for a moment before she shook it vigorously and blinked several times, trying to stay awake. Deciding that a few minutes wouldn't kill him, Ginny turned around to wake up Malfoy, but was surprised to see him sitting on the edge of his sleeping bag, staring at the moon. He appeared deep in thought and Ginny would almost have considered his expression dreamy except for the fact that it was on _his_ face.

"Malfoy?" she asked quietly, not wanting to disturb him from his reverie. At the sound of her voice, he jerked around in surprise, his face at once resuming a more usual expression though his eyes didn't lose the dreamy quality, making Ginny sure he was still deep in thought.

Putting aside her exhausted body's plea for sleep, she asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"

His face immediately adopted the sneer he wore whenever he saw Harry and his eyes glinted maliciously, the dreamy look gone. "What do you care?"

Ginny sighed impatiently and tried not to strangle him. If there was one thing she couldn't understand about Malfoy, it was his inability to let people know what he was thinking. As soon as he realized he was letting his guard down around someone, he immediately became so cold and distant it seemed impossible to reach him. This was the one quality that made it so hard for Ginny to admit that they might have a friendship of some sort. Even though Ginny was willing to trust him (at least a little), he refused to let her anywhere near his thoughts or feelings. Every time she had tried to get to know him or at least understand him a little better, he had shoved her away and gone back to treating her like he had at Hogwarts. _It's enough to infuriate anyone_, thought Ginny angrily.

"Okay, that's it, Malfoy," she snapped, glaring at him, "I've had enough. What is your bloody problem?"

"What are you talking about, Weasley?" he drawled, reverting to his usual cold manner. Ginny almost screamed with frustration.

"You!" she managed to get out in a strangled half-shriek, while he eyed her with disdain, "Every time I try to make this situation a little better by being thoughtful or friendly, you just have to push me away and make it that much worse! Can you at least _try_ to be nice to me?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Weasley, I have been nice to you," he hissed, indignant that she could forget so easily, "Or would you prefer for me to remind you how poor and wretched your family is every few minutes?"

She glared at him for a moment, realizing that she'd overreacted, but not about to admit it. "I thought we were past seriously insulting each other, Malfoy," she said coldly.

"Yeah, so did I," he replied just as coldly.

"When did I insult you?" she asked, feeling her anger ebb away a little even though she tried to keep it aflame.

"Can you at least _try_ to be nice to me?" he mimicked in a high voice that sounded remarkably like Ginny.

She was about to retort, but then, realizing it would do no good, she tried to calm herself down. "Look," she began awkwardly, "I'm…well, I can't say I'm sorry…but I didn't really mean it the way it came out. I'm just really frustrated…every time I try to have a friendly discussion with you, you always end up being rude to me."

"We've had plenty of 'friendly' conversations, Weasley," he said guardedly, "Just stay out of my personal life and everything will be fine."

"But that's just it," she said, running her hand through her hair in frustration, "Whenever I try to understand you…or at least get to know you better…you just—"

"Why on earth would you want to understand me?" asked Malfoy in confusion.

After making sure he wasn't being sarcastic, she said hesitantly, "Because…well, because I just thought it would make our situation better. Haven't you thought that we might get stuck here? Or even die?"

"Well, yeah…I have, actually…" he said quietly, "But—"

"So why not?" asked Ginny desperately, trying to make him understand, "What have we got to lose by trying to be nice to each other?"

"Well…" he hesitated. Everything she had said made sense, but there was a part of his mind (the part that always spoke in his father's voice) that made him want to refuse. Ignoring his father for once in his life, he said, "I suppose you're right, Weasley. Go ahead. Have your 'friendly' discussion."

She smiled happily, glad that she had finally broken past his cold demeanor. "Okay," she began, "What were you thinking about before?"

"Oh…just life, I suppose," he said, looking back toward the moon. She couldn't help noticing that his eyes were beginning to reflect the dreamy quality she had noticed before.

"Life?" she asked gently, trying not to push him too far, "As in life in general? Or…?"

"Well, my life, as a matter of fact," he said hesitantly, "Some things have just…come up…and I'm really not sure what's going to happen before this year is over."

"Oh," she said quietly.

"I just…sometimes I wonder if this is what I really want," he said. He had a far-off look in his eyes and Ginny suspected that he wasn't really aware of who he was talking to anymore.

"You mean…your life?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he almost whispered, "Have you ever felt that way before?"

"Not about my life," she answered, "But about…other things." She was mainly thinking about Dean and their relationship, but then she thought of Harry. Was he really what she wanted? After pining away for him for so long, anything that would happen between them would still feel like a daydream fantasy to her that she could wake up from at any moment.

"What other things?" he asked, turning to look back at her with an expression of interest. Was he actually interested in her problems? How odd…

"Oh, it's nothing," she said awkwardly. She didn't really feel like going into the details of her love life with a boy, especially if that boy was Draco Malfoy.

"C'mon, Weasley," he said coaxingly, "You're the one who wanted this little heart-to-heart. If you won't tell me anything…"

"I just don't think you'd be interested," she answered honestly, "Especially since it has to do with Harry."

"Oh, please," he said, leaning back with mock horror, "No gory details about you and Potter."

"I told you," she said, not feeling half as annoyed with him as she should have been. "So why are you doubting _your _life?"

He sat back in his original position and resumed staring at the moon. He remained silent for so long that Ginny was sure he wouldn't answer. Then he sighed and said, "I just think that maybe my father and I don't share as many opinions as I once thought. Some things that he holds in the highest esteem I barely give a second glance to. Maybe…maybe I'm not really meant to follow in his footsteps. Maybe I'm supposed to do something else."

Ginny remained silent. She had a feeling that he had never voiced this thought to anyone before and that knowledge gave her the same strange emotion their 'friendship' gave her: one of fear and comfort. She knew what she wanted to ask, but working up the courage was something else. Yet bravery won over in the end. "Malfoy…do you…love your parents?"

He glanced over at her, looking mildly confused but not at all angry, the emotion that Ginny had been expecting. He turned back to the sky, seeming to ponder the question. "I suppose," he finally answered, "I love my mother, that much I know. But my father…well…I've always respected him, looked up to him…isn't that love?" He turned to look back at Ginny with uncertainty. The one emotion she was sure she would never feel toward Malfoy overwhelmed her when she looked at his face: pity. He seemed so utterly vulnerable, so unsure of himself, the complete opposite of what he normally acted like. Ginny was momentarily unaware of everything around her; the only thing she could focus on was him. Finally she remembered that he had asked her a question.

"Well," she began uncertainly, "There are different types of love. But respect isn't really love. It's just…something different."

"I suppose I already knew that," he said softly.

There was something else that was nagging her, but asking him terrified her even more than her previous question. "Malfoy…what exactly did you mean when you said…following in your father's footsteps?" By the end of the sentence, her voice was barely audible and she was regretting ever bringing it up.

He looked sharply at her, his eyebrows forming a severe line, and she felt certain that she had finally gone too far. "Don't ask stupid questions, Weasley." That was the last thing she expected him to say. What was he talking about? She thought about it for a moment, then came to a conclusion of sorts.

"Are," she began, her voice cracking from anxiety, "Are you a Death Eater?"

His glare intensified, giving her the answer. Still, she couldn't quite believe it. Draco Malfoy…a Death Eater? Sure, she knew he would probably become one someday, but now? He couldn't be older than seventeen!

"So," she pushed on, trying to ignore his scowl, "You're wondering if you should follow V-Voldemort?"

Wincing horribly, he hissed threateningly, "Don't say his name!" But suddenly, she realized that there was nothing to be afraid of. What could he do to her? He needed her to get out of here, and besides, since she had come this far, why not go a little farther?

"It's just a name," she said recklessly, "Is that why? Are you afraid of him? So, you're prepared to follow to the death, if need be, a man who you not only are doubting if you should follow in the first place, but you're also afraid of! Fear does not equal respect! It's just a convenient tool for Voldemort to use to control his followers! Half of them wouldn't even be who they are today if he wasn't the most feared wizard in the world!" Through the confines of her reckless boldness, she realized dimly that they were now standing facing each other about three feet apart. She noticed that Malfoy's expression was fast becoming dangerous, but she couldn't care less at this point, so she continued with her speech undaunted.

"He controls them through fear! Don't you see that? Do you want to be one of those nameless, faceless minions of his? Do you want him to be able to gain more power, through you, than ever before? You're not just some nameless person, Malfoy, don't let him control you like he does your father!" For a moment, she really thought Malfoy was going to strangle her. His face, almost blood red in his rage, was a terrifying three inches away from hers. His fingers twitched for a moment, as if he was about to whip out his wand and curse her into a thousand pieces, and then he did the last thing she expected. He looked away and sighed dramatically, his expression changing to one of wistful yearning.

"It's not as simple as you think," he said cryptically.

"What are talking about?" Ginny nearly screamed. What was he doing? Why wasn't he cursing her or shouting back at her or doing anything that he normally did when he was angry? He shouldn't be looking wistful or giving her cryptic messages! What was happening to the world?

"Just like I said, Weasley," he answered, "One simply can't hand in a resignation to the Dark Lord and expect to live for another day. Even if I have doubts, it's not as simple as deciding what I want. You don't know what it's like to have your life decided for you before you're even born!" His strange bout of nostalgia was gone and he was again fast becoming the Malfoy that Ginny knew. "I've never had many options in my life. Even if some of them I agreed with, there was never really any choice on my part. So you can just stop pretending you can understand what I'm going through! I know who I am, and I sure as hell am no hero! You have your bloody Harry Potter for that job! So no more of your little heart-to-hearts, Weasley! You will never be able to understand me, so just leave me alone!"

And with that, he marched off through the clearing, heading for the path. Ginny stood looking after him for a few minutes, fuming, before she flopped down on her sleeping bag, folding her arms and glaring at the ground. _Who cares where he's going?_ she thought vehemently, _If he wants to be a bloody git and stomp off to his death, that's his problem, not mine._

At that moment, she couldn't care less if she was acting childishly or foolishly. All she could think about was how mad Malfoy made her and how much she wanted to run after him and curse him right and properly.

"Having a fight, dear?" asked a strange voice behind her that raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

Draco ran along the path, hardly caring if he lost his way in the dark. _Who did she think she was? _he thought fiercely, _Pretending she actually understood him! And people presumed _him_ arrogant? _

As he stomped through the night, he suddenly heard a high-pitched scream echoing behind him before it was cut off abruptly. Recognizing Weasley's voice with a thrill of horror, he wheeled around without a second thought and ran toward the sound, his anger completely forgotten in the wave of cold fear that was currently gripping him.

A/N: Yay, cliffie! Sorry, it's for your own good, you know. It'll (hopefully) make you more interested to know what happens next. Mwahahaha! Ahem…so I hope you enjoyed that chapter.

That's it, and I'll see you next time! Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter VII: Slytherina Audacia

**Chapter VII: Slytherina Audacia**

A/N: I'm baaaack! Did you miss me? You better have, cause I have an awesome, action-packed chapter coming your way! Hold on to your hippogriffs, folks, this is gonna be a bumpy ride!

This chapter title translates to _Slytherin Courage._

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter book series. sighs pathetically But I do own a pack of Nightmare Before Christmas playing cards! (which are kind of hard to read but…oh well, they're still amazing)

In this chapter: The cause (or causes) of Ginny's scream, Malfoy to the rescue, and Between a rock and a vampire.

Draco could feel his heart pumping uncomfortably in his throat as he neared the clearing where he and Weasley had set up camp.

"_Nox_," he whispered as soon as he could see where he was going by the light of the moon. He crept cautiously through the trees, trying to make as little noise as possible. When he reached the edge of the clearing and could see what was happening, he very nearly decided to turn around and run away as fast as possible. But he couldn't leave Weasley. Even if she had been quite a bit of a nuisance, she was still the only person who had ever bothered to befriend him.

_Besides,_ he reminded himself, _It's not like you can leave this godforsaken place without her._ So instead, he hid among the numerous shadows of the forest and watched the scene through a gap in the trees.

Weasley was lying on the forest floor, unconscious, while a group of vampires stood nearby, talking quietly together. Draco counted them silently in his head and came up with fifteen. Far too many for his liking. A sudden horrible thought struck him and he quickly looked back at Weasley. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he couldn't make out any bite marks on her neck and hoped desperately that he wasn't mistaken. As far as he knew, there was no cure for vampire bites.

Quickly, he brainstormed about possible escape routes, but could think of absolutely nothing. Even if he managed to somehow get Weasley out of the clearing without the vampires noticing, they wouldn't get far, especially with Weasley unconscious. The best thing he could do now was to stay hidden and find out what the vampires were planning to do. As he turned his attention back to the vampires, he realized they were having a mild argument.

"No Peral!" one of the vampires was saying in a commanding tone, "I can't sacrifice the hunger of our entire clan to your frivolous needs. We shall have no more newcomers until we feed." The rest of the group murmured assent to this statement, nodding their heads solemnly. The vampire who had spoken was obviously the leader. His waxy face was so sunken and wasted that it no longer resembled anything remotely humanesque. His hair was jet black and very long and his eyes glowed with a demonic red gleam in the dark.

"But Slef!" cried a female vampire who Draco assumed was Peral. She was almost as ancient as the vampire who had first spoken, with strange dark blue hair and glowing orange eyes. "This girl is a witch! Did you not feel her power a few moments before? We haven't come across such a find in hundreds of years and you would waste it to satisfy your greed? If you must feed on something, find the boy who was with her, he can't have gone far. But let me have her, I beg of you! She would be a great asset to us, just think of all the spoils we can obtain with her power!"

Slef seemed to consider this option for a moment before bowing his head to Peral in reluctant acceptance. "Erringa, Crospe," he said, gesturing to two other vampires, "Bind the girl and stand watch. Everybody else, follow me." And he glided off through the trees directly opposite where Draco, who couldn't believe his luck, was hiding. Draco watched carefully as the two remaining vampires tied Weasley to a large tree and stood with their backs facing her, staring intently through the forest.

Carefully, Draco edged around the clearing, trying to be as silent as possible. He managed to get about halfway to Weasley's tree before something bad happened. The first vampire (Draco thought her name was Erringa) suddenly jerked her head around to the noise of his foot crunching a twig. Draco experienced a moment of terror when the vampire's eyes widened at the sight of him, but before she had time to react, Draco had said, "_Stupefy_!" and she had crumpled to the ground. The other vampire stared from his fallen companion to Draco in shock, making it incredibly easy for Draco to hit him with another stunning spell.

Jogging quickly to the tree, he cut through the ropes binding Weasley to the tree with a severing charm and she immediately collapsed into his arms. "Weasley," he said urgently, shaking her roughly, "Weasley, wake up! Please wake up!" Her head lolled hopelessly from side to side. Draco couldn't think of the incantation for the reviving spell, but he didn't think it would help anyway since she had been knocked out instead of stupefied.

He looked up momentarily, listening for the other vampires, but he could hear nothing. Either they were too far away (which is what he was hoping) or they were moving too silently for Draco to hear. He looked back down at Weasley, a hopeless sort of grimace forming on his face. Sighing, he slipped his arms under her body and heaved her up with far too much strength, resulting in him nearly toppling over backwards.

_She weighs next to nothing_, he thought, looking at her face curiously. Odd…he had never noticed how thin she was before. Tearing his eyes away from her unconscious form and silently berating himself for thinking about her unnecessarily, he started to jog down the path, deciding against the Lumos spell, as it would probably give him away.

Jogging through the dark forest while carrying Weasley proved to be very difficult for Draco, even with the occasional relaxing charm to help him catch his breath. He had no idea where he was going and wasn't even sure if he was on the path anymore, but he was too preoccupied to care. The vampires were bound to find out that Weasley was gone very soon and would be able to find them all too easily, whether if they were on the path or not. The only two things Draco could do was to find a place to hide (thus far a complete failure) or stand and fight (which would probably result in his death and Weasley getting turned into a vampire).

Draco shuddered, trying to force that thought out of his mind. Hopefully he would be able to find a place where they could hide until the sun rose, forcing the vampires back to their daytime lair.

A few moments later (or so it seemed), Draco heard a distinctively agonizing cry coming from the clearing. Heart thudding painfully, Draco broke into a full out sprint, trying to put as much space as he could between the hunting vampires and himself. Suddenly he stumbled over something in the dark and very nearly fell over. Cursing violently, he turned around to see what he had tripped on. It was a boulder.

_That's odd, _he thought, staring at the huge rock, _What's a boulder doing in the middle of a forest?_ He turned away, shrugging the thought off, and nearly tripped over another large rock in his path. Looking around, he noticed a large patch of darkness to his left. He squinted at it, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, and realized with a sudden surge of hope what it was: a large rock hill complete with a path running around it to the top.

He jogged along the new path, hoping against hope that he could find a suitable cave. After stumbling on several loose stones and nearly falling back down to the forest floor, he decided it was in his best interest to walk with his right hand leaning on the hill for support. This new method seemed to work much better and just when Draco thought he was getting the hang of mountain climbing, his hand, groping for a handhold on the side of the hill, met with thin air instead, causing Draco to fall sideways into a narrow fissure in the hillside. His body rolled over about three times before coming to rest near a cave wall with Weasley a few feet away. Somehow, the fall hadn't woken her up and she still seemed to be out cold with her mouth slightly open.

Draco smiled slightly at her undignified position before he jerked his head to the cave entrance in horror. The sound of many sets of light footsteps was filtering through the fissure, making Draco sure that the vampires had finally tracked him down. Thinking quickly, he rapped himself and Weasley over the head with his wand, using the Disillusionment Charm. The vampires wouldn't be able to see them so long as they didn't move.

He picked Weasley up and sat her against a wall slightly removed from the entrance. Even if she wasn't concealed, the vampires wouldn't be able to see her unless they stuck their heads in through the opening. Carefully sitting down beside her, he tried to be as silent as possible, praying that the vampires wouldn't discover their refuge.

He heard them moving outside the entrance, walking quickly. He held his breath and counted the sets of feet that moved past. _One…two, three…four, five, six…seven…eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve…c'mon…one more…_ The last set of feet moved slowly past the opening and just when Draco was about to breathe a sigh of relief, they stopped.

"Moemnt," hissed a voice right outside the cave, "Call a halt. I think I found something."

_Oh no,_ thought Draco in panic. He could hear the vampires calling softly to one another through the line as the tramp of feet gradually stopped. Then the only thing that could have made the situation worse happened. Weasley woke up.

Draco heard her moan softly and he glanced over in time to see her eyes flutter open. Since he was already in a panic, he did the only thing that made sense to him at the time. He pulled her over with one arm so she wouldn't move and covered her mouth with his other hand so she wouldn't make any more noises. She immediately started struggling rather violently, trying to get out of his grasp.

He heard one of the vampires (probably Slef, the leader) moving closer to the cave, so he leaned down and whispered in her ear as quietly and desperately as possible, "Weasley, it's me! Stay very still and we might get out of this alive!" She immediately stopped thrashing not a moment too soon. The next second, Slef had stuck his horribly distorted face into the fissure, looking intently around the cave. His eyes passed over the huddled forms of Draco and Ginny, obviously not seeing them.

"I see nothing," he said in irritation to the vampire that had stopped the line.

"I'm sure there was something," insisted the vampire. Slef passed his scarlet eyes over the cave again and, to Draco and Ginny's horror, stepped closer, looking right at them. Just as Draco was sure that he would find them by tripping over them, he stopped within an inch of Draco's outstretched foot, surveying the area with his horrible eyes.

"Let's continue on," he said, turning away and walking back out of the cave, "There's nothing of interest in there." Draco waited until the last set of feet had passed their haven before releasing Weasley and breathing a deep sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" asked Weasley quietly, rubbing the top of her head, which was sporting a bruise that was slowly turning a lovely shade of purple. Draco assumed that it was the reason she had been unconscious when he found her. Her fingers accidentally brushed the sensitive area and she flinched in pain. Try as he might to suppress it, Draco felt an immediate stab of concern for her.

He hesitated then, pointing his wand at her bruise, said, "Hold still."

"What?" Weasley began to ask but stopped when Draco murmured, "_Sana capitem_" and she felt the bruise disappear in seconds and her headache vanish. She felt the area where the bruise had been gingerly, but there was nothing.

She looked at Draco in surprised gratitude, smiling gently. "Thanks," she said, "How do you know healing spells?"

"I thought they might come in useful, so I looked them up in the library," he said, trying to brush off her thanks. He still wasn't quite sure why he'd healed her in the first place. He could've just left the bruise; it wouldn't have killed her, so why? Wasn't he supposed to be angry with her anyway? He didn't really feel like he wanted the answers to those questions right now, so he pushed it to the back of his mind and quickly filled her in on what had happened while she had been unconscious.

"Wow," said Weasley, looking at him in surprise, "That was pretty clever with the Disillusionment Charm. How did you think of that?"

"Actually," said Draco, "You gave me the idea. That's what you were using that day in the library, right?"

"Yeah, I was," she answered, seeming surprised that he had remembered. "Not bad, Malfoy," she said, grinning at him, "You might make a decent wizard after all."

Suddenly they heard the tramp of many feet coming back down the hillside path. "Oh no," muttered Draco, "Now that they've been to the top, they'll know that there's no other place we could hide besides in this cave. We have to hide, quickly!" He looked wildly around the cave, trying to find a secret passage, a dark corner, anything to help them.

"Look there!" said Weasley, pointing to a narrow ledge about six feet above the cave floor that was so heavily shrouded in shadow that Draco hadn't noticed it before. "If we can get up there, they'll never be able to find us."

"Okay," said Draco, reaching up to the ledge and pulling himself up. He quickly scanned the rest of the ledge. "There's enough room for you," he said, "C'mon, Weasley!"

She took a running start and managed to grab hold of the edge, but then quickly lost her footing on the slippery cave wall, falling down to the floor with an almighty crash that Draco was sure the vampires had heard.

"I can't make it!" she said desperately, "I'm too short. What now?"

He quickly jumped down and without a second thought, hoisted her within reach of the ledge. She frantically scrambled for a handhold, trying to pull herself up. When she finally managed, she settled herself and, noticing Malfoy was staring at the cave entrance, said, "C'mon, Malfoy, climb up! What are you waiting for?"

He glanced at her for a moment, making sure she was safely settled on the shelf. "Stay there," he said, looking her straight in the eyes to make sure she understood him completely, "Whatever you do, don't move, okay?"

"Malfoy," she said uncertainly, "What are you doing?"

"Okay?" he asked, his voice taking on a frantic desperation. The vampires were almost to the cave entrance. He could hear them dislodging stones as they hurried to the source of the noise. Any second now, they were going to hurtle through and find them.

But suddenly Ginny, who had been watching his face closely, realized what he was about to do. "Malfoy, no!" she said wildly, "Don't!" He looked back at her for a moment, smiling. A real smile. Not one with a hint of sarcasm, not one with a sneer, a true smile, like he was actually happy to be in her presence.

"Thanks Weasley," he said softly. He turned back toward the cave entrance. His mind was made up. No matter how foolhardy his plan was, he was going to see it through. And as strange as it may sound, this thought gave him a new type of strength he had never experienced before. With this newfound boldness flowing through his veins, he ran out of the cave, yelling with all his might, leaving Ginny staring after him with her mouth open.

A/N: So, I know most of you are asking, "What the heck is Draco doing?" Don't worry, dear readers, all shall be explained in the following chapter, the exciting conclusion of Draco and Ginny's adventures with the vampires.

On a negative note, I fear that Draco is now so far out of character that there will be no way to bring him back to reality. Do you think he's really that bad? Or am I just being pessimistic? You're the readers and I would love to get your input!

I have one made up spell in this chapter: _Sana capitem _(the one Draco uses to heal Ginny's bruise) which literally means, in Latin, _heal the head_.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and review! 


	8. Chapter VIII: Auxilium Sanguisugā

**Chapter VIII: Auxilium Sanguisugā **

A/N: This chapter title translates to _Help from a Vampire_.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything connected or affiliated with the Harry Potter series. What I own is much more…er…interesting! It's a sparkly Cinderella pen with it's own plastic case! Yay! (I am a Disney freak, just so we're clear.)

In this chapter: Ginny's decision, To trust a vampire, and "For being my friend."

"_Bravery is not the absence of fear, but rather that something is more important than fear."_

Ginny stared out of the open cave mouth in awe as roughly thirteen vampires hurried past, shouting and pushing each other to get at Malfoy. She just couldn't comprehend what Malfoy was doing. Her mind refused to accept it. There was no way on earth.

_He just sacrificed himself_, she thought disbelievingly, _for me._ _Why?_

She could still hear him in the distance, the shouts of the vampires almost covering his yelling. She sat in her state of quiet shock, unable to move.

Suddenly, her head shot up, her eyes filled with purpose. There was no way that she was going to leave him to the mercy of the vampires. He was her friend, and however shaky that title may be, she wasn't going to abandon him.

As she jumped down from the ledge, she vaguely recalled his last request for her to stay put and the compelling desperation in his eyes when he spoke. She paused for a moment, wondering if he had a plan in mind, then quickly dismissed the thought.

_Even if he does, there's no way he could have thought it out carefully_,she rationalized with herself, _There just wasn't enough time._ And with that somewhat comforting thought in her head, she walked through the cave entrance, following the sounds of the hunting vampires.

Draco had absolutely no idea what he was doing and absolutely no idea where he was going, but he didn't care. For the first time in his life, he felt brave. He felt strong. And in that moment in time, he felt as if he could have conquered the world. It was this elation that was moving him forward, making him scream his joy to the night sky, completely heedless of the fact that he was being pursued by a horde of vampires.

By the time he had gotten to the bottom of the rock hill (miraculously, without falling) his momentary adrenaline rush was receding and he realized that he was in a very bad situation indeed. He glanced over his shoulder to see the vampires much closer than they had been previously. He shouted a few curses at them and saw at least two fall behind, but the attempt did little to thwart the remaining vampires. For the first time, he felt a jolt of fear and he redoubled his pace, trying to outdistance his pursuers, even though he knew he would never be able to.

Quickly he calculated his remaining resources. He still had the Disillusionment Charm activated, which might help a little, but probably not much. He had his wand, so he could hold them at bay for a short while, if the worst came to the worst. He glanced at the sky, but couldn't see any trace of approaching dawn, so there were probably still a few hours to go before the day and no help to be had from Mother Nature before then.

Cursing his luck and bad planning, he glanced over his shoulder again, but there was no sign that the vampires would relent. Suddenly, he felt his toe snag on a protruding tree root and he fell quite spectacularly, flying at least four feet before landing on his face. He felt his forehead scrap across another tree root, causing a nasty cut that began to bleed immediately, but he tried his best to ignore it as he flipped over and steadied his wand, trying to think of a good spell.

The vampires were about five feet away, their eyes gleaming excitedly in the unnatural darkness of the forest. As he took in this horrible scene, his mind froze in fear. His body became numb. He couldn't move. They were three feet away…two feet… Suddenly, he felt the same boldness he had experienced before flood his body and he thrust his wand into the air, screaming with all his might, "_Solori_!"

Ginny had been trying to find Malfoy and the vampires for at least five minutes and she was quickly becoming frantic. The only evidence she had found that Malfoy was still alive was one vampire lying motionless at the bottom of the rock hill, apparently stunned. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if they didn't get out of this alive. She shuddered, trying to banish the thought from her mind. She didn't think she could bear the guilt. It was because of her that they were in this position in the first place. If she hadn't provoked Malfoy into a screaming match, they probably would never have attracted the vampires' attention. She stopped yet again, straining her eyes to see through the gloom of the horrible forest.

Suddenly, she saw a huge burst of white light about a hundred feet away. She was momentarily blinded from being in the dark so long and squeezed her eyes shut, stumbling backward from the force of her ailment. Coming from the same direction as the light, she heard many inhuman voices suddenly cry out in pain and anguish. It was dreadful to listen to, even at this distance, and she slapped her hands over her ears, trying to block out the ghastly noise.

When the sound had lessened considerably she cautiously lifted her hands from her ears and opened her eyes, only to fall backwards to the ground, scrambling to get away and gasping in terror at the sight before her.

The vampire tilted her head to the side, her eyes cloudly with confusion, as if she didn't understand Ginny's reaction. This simple gesture was so human a thing to do and so completely unlike anything Ginny associated with dark creatures, that she stopped her frantic attempts at escape and gazed in perplexity at the vision before her.

The vampire didn't have the traditional glowing red eyes of her kin or the waxy skin tone and greasy hair. In fact, she almost looked like a cross between a human and a vampire, if such a thing was possible. Her eyes were blue, but looked as though they were fading into a dreary black color. Her skin looked almost normal, but was still a little too pale and waxy to be considered that of a human. Her hair was what confused Ginny the most. It was blonde. Not black, not blue, nor any other dismal color Ginny associated with vampires, but _blonde_. It reminded Ginny a little of Luna's hair; it was scraggly, long, not very elegant, but pretty in it's own way.

The vampire smiled uneasily at Ginny, showing white, pointed teeth. "Hello, little witch," she said kindly, "My name is Moemnt. I want to help you." Ginny gaped in astonishment. This was indeed the most bizarre place she had ever been. Who ever heard of a friendly vampire?

"What?" was all she could manage, as she was still getting over her shock.

Moemnt held out a hand to help her up, trying not to frighten the girl any more than she already was. Ginny looked at the proffered hand in silence, weighing her chances. She looked up at the vampire once more, noticing the plea for trust in her eyes, and allowed herself to be hauled to her feet.

"What are you?" Ginny asked abruptly. She couldn't hold the question in anymore and hoped she didn't sound too rude.

The vampire smiled sadly. She sighed and said, "Not so very long ago, I was not unlike you."

Ginny frowned in confusion, and then it dawned on her. "You were a human? You mean, they changed you into a vampire?"

Moemnt nodded slowly and Ginny was overcome with pity. She couldn't imagine having to live as a vampire for more than an hour, let alone eternity. "I'm sorry," she whispered, lowering her eyes.

"Don't be," Moemnt replied, her voice taking on more power, "If I'm able to help you and your friend, it will bring me much more happiness than you can imagine."

Ginny looked up at her, surprised by her positive outlook. "But how can you help us?" she asked.

Moemnt smiled mysteriously, then, lowering her head conspiratorically, whispered, "Listen closely."

Draco collapsed on the ground, shaking from exhaustion after his wild flight. His heart was beating rapidly and he could scarcely draw breath. His spell had bought him a few precious minutes, enough time to throw the vampires off his trail…temporarily. He gently touched his forehead, assessing the damage done by the tree root. His face was nearly covered with blood, warm and sticky to the touch. He felt extremely unwell, as if he was about to throw up. He didn't think he could do this much longer without succumbing to the inevitable.

He heard the vampires drawing near, walking through the trees and talking quietly among themselves, obviously still searching for him. He figured they would probably never give up on him, now that he had injured so many of their group. He tried to lift himself up, tried to force himself to keep going, anything to prolong his inevitable death, but fell back to the ground with an audible groan, unable to go on any longer. He couldn't even cast a relaxing charm or heal his forehead. He just didn't have enough strength.

He heard the vampires drawing near, their voices muddling together in the darkness engulfing his senses. He tried to make sense of what was being said, but he couldn't distinguish one voice out of the jumbled murmur. Before he could do anything, they were upon him; he could see their evil eyes glowing through the dark, their hands reaching out to grab him…and suddenly they were pulling back…they were leaving him. What were they doing? Why wasn't he dead? Draco couldn't ponder his questions any longer and he let himself fall into the fog surrounding his mind.

Ginny stuck her head out from behind the large tree, squinting in the darkness as her eyes followed Moemnt. The vampires were all grouped around something lying on the ground, stretching their arms out to it. They paused as Moemnt spoke to them, her voice carrying softly back to Ginny, though she couldn't understand what was being said. Slowly, they moved back from their huddle and began conversing with Moemnt. An argument broke out between two of the vampires, but was quickly resolved as a distinguished female vampire moved away through the trees, following Moemnt's directions and the rest of the clan was forced to follow.

As soon as they were out of sight, Ginny ran quickly to the spot they had been moments before, where her suspicions were confirmed. Malfoy was lying on the ground, still disillusioned and apparently unconscious.

"Malfoy?" she whispered, shaking his shoulders gently. His eyelids fluttered once, but he didn't wake. _This can't be good_, Ginny thought, desperately thinking of a way to wake him. She figured she only had a few minutes before the vampires realized that Moemnt was lying and there was no way she could carry or levitate him to safety fast enough. Thinking frantically through her list of spells, she smiled and thanked the heavens that she had been in the DA last year.

"_Ennervate_," she murmured, pointing her wand at his chest. His eyes slowly opened and his face took on a disoriented look.

"Weasley?" he whispered, looking at her in shock but his expression quickly turned to one of indignation. "I thought I told you to stay in the cave," he said angrily.

She sighed in frustration. "Okay, next time I'll just leave you to your fate, shall I?" she asked sarcastically, "Because you were obviously doing a smashing job of surviving by yourself, weren't you?"

Malfoy glared at her before asking, "What are you talking about? How did _you _save _my_ life? Isn't it the other way around?"

Trying her best to ignore his arrogance, she explained as quickly as she could about her strange meeting with Moemnt and the vampire's willingness to help them. "She's distracting the rest of the vampires so that we can escape right now," she continued hurriedly. "She told me about a cave that she had hidden in when she was still a human, so we can hide there until morning. We only have a few minutes before they come back this way so we have to hurry. C'mon!" She tugged on his arm, trying to get him to stand up.

Attempting to process this new information, he slowly regained his feet. He managed to stand for a few seconds, swaying slightly, before stumbling to the side and leaning on a tree with his chest heaving.

"What's wrong?" she asked, half in concern and half in fear of the delay he was causing.

"Let's see," he sneered, causing her concern to vanish, "I just ran about a mile without stopping, except to trip over a tree root, soak my face in blood, and perform a spell that is considered vastly difficult even under normal circumstances, and I'm too weak to even use a simple relaxing charm which, surprisingly, isn't helping my situation too much at the moment."

Ginny sighed in exasperation before pointing her wand at his chest and muttering, "_Laxa_."

"Thanks," he murmured, slightly abashed at his comments from before.

"Don't mention it," Ginny replied loftily, "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to continue on our way before we both get killed."

Draco smiled, though she couldn't see it in the dark, and started to jog after her, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead.

By the time they found the cave, they were nearly frantic with fear that the vampires would discover them before they found the crevice in the wall that Moemnt had told Ginny about. When Malfoy's cry of delight alerted Ginny to his discovery, she felt she could have cried with relief. They filed inside the small opening and positioned themselves to wait for the morning, when it would be safe to travel again.

After Malfoy had disillusioned both of them, Ginny had healed Malfoy's cut, cleared the blood off his face, and assured him that it wouldn't leave a scar, they settled down for a long wait. Ginny volunteered to watch, figuring that Malfoy was probably exhausted from the night's adventures. And after all, she did owe him her life.

As she adjusted herself to the hard rock, trying to find a comfortable position and still be able to see the cave entrance, she glimpsed Malfoy's face in the dark. He seemed even paler than usual and she thought she saw a brief trace of the vulnerability she had witnessed earlier that night.

"Malfoy?" she whispered, wondering if he was still awake.

He opened one eye lazily, then closed it again and asked in a weary sort of voice, "What do you want, Weasley?"

"Why did you say 'thanks' before when you left me in the cave?" she asked, genuinely curious. She thought she saw a brief smile cross his face, so faint she was unsure if she had imagined it or not.

He opened both eyes and looked at her quite intimately, taking Ginny by surprise, but it was nothing compared to the shock she felt at what he said next.

"For being my friend."

A/N: Yay! I finished it! I love this chapter, it goes to show what near death experiences have on people. I hope you loved it as well and hopefully will show your appreciation in a review! (hint, hint!) I hope all of your questions as to the riddle behind Draco's motives are answered, and if not, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions or comments in a review.

I have one made up spell in this chapter, the one Draco uses to ward off the vampires and claims is 'considered vastly difficult (to perform) even under normal circumstances'. My idea was that sunlight is the one thing vampires can't stand (besides a stake of wood) so the spell is supposed to summon a burst of brilliant sunlight. The incantation, _Solori_, is taken from two Latin words: _Sol_, meaning the sun and _Ori_, which literally means _Rise_. So I just combined them for a one word spell literally meaning, _Rise, Sun!_

Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter IX: Stellae in Noce

**Chapter IX: Stellae in Noce**

A/N: Okay guys, this is The Chapter (I think you'll see why in a few minutes), which is why it took me so long to get it up. So I hope you enjoy and drop me a review, any and all are welcome!

This chapter title translates to _Stars in the Night_.

Disclaimer: I own a pair of extremely comfortable Icelandic wool slippers puchased in Reykjavik! But, as far as I know, I don't own anything connected or affiliated with the Harry Potter series.

In this chapter: Morning light, The dangers of standing beneath a nebula, and An unwanted adventure.

When the sun finally started peeking over the horizon, bringing with it all the warmth and comfort of a fresh morning, Ginny thought she had never seen anything so glorious before in her life. Cautiously, she stepped outside the cave, checking thoroughly for any unwelcome guests. As soon as she was sure there was nothing to worry about, she jumped out onto the path, spreading her arms as wide as they would go and breathing in the welcome morning air.

Even though she was stuck along with her sworn enemy in the middle of a dark forest inhabited by vampires, shades, and who knew what else, for some reason (she chalked it up to the beautiful sunrise) she couldn't remember ever feeling so happy and carefree. Hogwarts, along with the problems of the rest of the Wizarding world, seemed a million miles away as she laughed joyously, twirling round and round, jumping through the trees and chasing the morning light.

It was several minutes before she realized she had attracted an audience in the form of a teenage boy who was staring out at her from the cave entrance. She blushed as she noticed him, laughing at his bewildered expression.

He walked slowly up to where she was beaming and bouncing on the balls of her feet, unable to keep still. He looked at her as if he hadn't seen anything quite like her before, opened and shut his mouth a few times as if he was unsure of what to say, then finally asked, "What on earth are you doing?"

She laughed again, spread her arms like a bird and zoomed around several nearby trees, calling back to him, "Having fun! What's it look like?"

"It looks like you've escaped from St. Mungo's," he muttered. Ginny heard him but while it would've made her quite angry if she was back at school, it now only increased the width of her smile. "Why are you so happy, anyway?" he asked, unable to keep a small smile coming to his face as he watched her now trying to climb a large oak without much success.

"It's just—" she cut off as the branch she was hanging on to snapped, causing her to fall back to the ground at Malfoy's feet. He smirked down at her, highly amused, as she grinned and finished her sentence. "Just a wonderful morning."

"I see," he said, reaching out a hand to pull her up. He rolled his eyes at her blissful expression as she turned back to the dawn, spreading her arms and breathing in deeply. "All the better to continue our journey."

She rushed to comply, bounding happily down the path ahead of Malfoy, who just rolled his eyes again and smiled absentmindedly, amused at her antics and grateful for how easy it was to forget all his troubles when she was happy.

They traveled all day with only a few breaks, determined to get the vampires off of their trail. Finally, when night had fallen and they could no longer continue because of the overwhelming darkness, they found a sheltered area a little removed from the path and settled down for the night. After a few debates, it was decided that Ginny would watch first and only a few minutes later Malfoy's snoring filtered out of his sleeping bag and filled the small area.

Ginny wandered around the perimeter of their sleeping area, trying to find an opening in the trees' canopy where she could catch a glimpse of the sky. Just when she was about to give it up as a lost cause, she noticed a very faint flash of light slightly ahead of her coming from the dark forest roof. She hurried over and looked up through the small opening, relief flooding her as she felt the horrible oppressive nature of the forest ebbing away from her mind. She could just barely make out a few stars, but it was enough to keep the forest at bay.

She must have stood there for a long time gazing at the little opening in relaxed contentment because it was a few minutes before she registered the sound of footsteps behind her. Without a second thought she whirled around and shouted "_Stupefy_!" at the approaching figure. There was an almost immediate cry of "_Protego_!" as Ginny's stunning spell glanced off of the makeshift shield and she dropped to the dark forest floor to avoid it.

"What was that for?" Malfoy's voice sounded annoyed.

"How was I supposed to know it was you?" asked Ginny angrily, picking herself up and brushing the dirt off of her skirt.

He walked up to her, his hair shining like a beacon in the night, his face drawn into a disdainful expression. "If it was a vampire, you would already be knocked out," he sneered.

She scowled, but refrained from retorting, knowing it would only lead to another argument. She wasn't keen on attracting more vampires with their shouting.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked, glancing at her watch. "You still have a few more hours before it's your turn to watch."

"I know," he said, dropping his sneer and adopting a serious manner. "I couldn't sleep." Ginny frowned, puzzled. When she had left him, he had been snoring quite loudly. As if he had read her mind, he said, "I had a pretty bad dream."

"Oh," was all she said before turning away from him to look at the sky again. She was still a little annoyed with him for picking a fight with her the second he woke up.

"Weasley," he said slowly, as if choosing his words very carefully, "I've been thinking about what you said." Ginny was surprised. He had actually given thought to _her _idea?

He paused, waiting for her reaction, but when she just stood with her back resolutely toward him, he continued in the same slow voice. "I know where you're coming from and…I…_suppose_ you mean well, but…even if I tried to do…what you suggested, it wouldn't work." When she still stood her ground, he said, "I mean, think about it, you know as well as I do the consequences of disobeying the Dark Lord and my li— there's some things at stake that are too…important to throw away, I can't just ignore the possibility of losing my— those things and…" He trailed off, realizing that he was rambling in his anxiety to make her believe him…or at least _look_ at him.

Finally, Ginny turned around, looking at him with a strange hard expression he had never seen her wear before. "There are some things in life that are worth risking _everything _for," she said, her voice carrying a heavy undertone of fervor. Then she seemed to come back to herself, the strange hard expression vanishing and her voice going back to its normal light quality as she added, "And if you wanted to apologize, all you had to do was say sorry."

"And why would I want to apologize to _you_?" he asked, his disdainful air resurfacing amid his confusion about what she had said.

She looked at him closely, trying to see past his ridiculous sneer. "Because I was only trying to help and you overreacted."

He looked at her incredulously. "_I_ overreacted? What about you?"

She had the decency to blush, then said, "I'm sorry. I know I overreacted, but I was really only trying to help you."

"Don't expect me to apologize. You were the one snooping around in my private life."

She glared at him. "I said I'm sorry. The least you could do is say the same. We were both wrong."

"Apologizing to someone shows weakness," he hissed. "I may not be a hero, but I'm _not_ weak."

She looked completely taken aback, shocked and almost (was he imagining it?) disappointed. "An apology is the most noble thing you can offer someone," she said softly, looking at a spot on the ground. "It shows strength, not weakness."

He opened his mouth to retort with the usual comeback, but found that he didn't know what to say. He simply stood there, staring at her and wondering why it was so hard to insult her opinions. She didn't seem to mind so much when he insulted her or her family (or at least she was always ready with a comeback), but insulting her beliefs seemed to affect her much more and he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. So instead he just stood with his mouth half-open and looked at her, noticing vaguely how her hair seemed to glint like frost in the starlight filtering through the canopy.

Ginny looked up at him slowly, wondering why he hadn't said anything yet, and found him simply staring at her with such intensity that she started feeling extremely awkward. She glanced quickly around, trying to find some inspiration for a conversation. Suddenly, another flash of light, brighter than the first time, filtered through the trees. She looked up at the canopy directly above her head and noticed a strange shape in the sky that was pulsing with red and white light, occasionally flashing brightly.

"What is _that_?" she asked, pointing up at the strange light.

Malfoy moved closer until he was standing right next to her, squinting up at the sky. "I think it's some sort of nebula," he said in almost a whisper.

"It's beautiful," Ginny murmured. She had never seen anything quite like it before.

"Yeah," Malfoy said very quietly.

Confused, she glanced at him and found that instead of gazing at the sky, he was looking at her with the same intense expression he had worn only moments before. With a sudden jolt of her stomach, she realized that he was slowly moving closer to her...much too close. Her lungs suddenly felt very shallow; she couldn't seem to get enough air...and yet he was still moving closer and closer.

"Were," she tried to ask but her voice gave out on her. She gulped and tried again. "Were you talking about the sky?" Her voice was barely audible by the end of the question and Malfoy was now a mere inch away from her.

He smiled softly and whispered, "No." And before she could say anything else, before she could draw another shallow breath, before she could even think, he had closed the gap between them and kissed her softly on the lips.

Ginny froze. Her mind went blank, all of her senses seemed to stop operating, she was completely helpless. Then, slowly, gradually, she realized just exactly what was happening, but before she could react, the moment was gone. He was backing away from her, his head down, his expression completely confused, muttering, "I don't know why I did that. Just…just forget it. It shouldn't have happened."

Ginny stared at him, resisting the insane impluse to run to him and bury herself in his arms. The truth was, she had never been kissed like that before, as if she was something precious and delicate that might flit away any second and, as utterly bizarre as it sounded (even in her own mind), it had felt amazing. Before she could do anything, however, she felt someone grab her arm from behind and pull it around behind her back while a sharp point pricked the base of her throat. She struggled fiercely, trying to reach her wand, but the attempt did nothing to thwart her attacker and only earned her another jab with the knife, drawing a few drops of blood from her throat. Some gruff laughter reached her ears and she realized that they had been surrounded by a group of rogues.

Malfoy whipped out his wand and cursed a few of the oncoming men, causing the rest to fall back with wary looks on their faces. He jabbed his wand threateningly toward the man who held Ginny captive, but the man only laughed. "Try anything," he said, his voice low and rough, "and she dies." He drew the point of his blade closer to Ginny's throat as if to illustrate his point, drawing a few more drops of blood.

Draco stood there with his wand raised, glaring fiercely, trying to think of some way out of their situation, but nothing came to him. Grudgingly admitting defeat, he slowly lowered his wand, allowing the rest of the men to swarm toward him. One took his wand and the others bound his hands together behind his back. The man holding Ginny captive took her wand and hit her hard on the head with the hilt of the dagger, making her crumple to the ground.

"_You liar_!" snarled Draco, fighting to get at the man. "You said you wouldn't hurt her!"

The man laughed unpleasantly. "I only said she wouldn't die," he said, smiling at Draco's attempts to get at him. "Throw him and the girl into the pen," he ordered, his voice suddenly taking on a sharp authority. "Let me know when she wakes up."

The rest of the men hastened to obey. One of them slung Ginny over his shoulder, her head hanging limply, while a few others prodded Draco with their knife points, making him walk ahead. Trying to keep up the pace and stay balanced, he stumbled along the path, wondering how on earth they were going to get out of this. It seemed completely impossible that just a few short minutes ago he had been kissing Weasley under the starry sky.

A/N: Okay, so that was it. The first kiss. I know most of you are probably about to kill me, but let me attempt to explain. I've had this story thought out since before I started writing it, so I have no intention of changing the format. Sorry. I know it was their first kiss and you probably expected something a little more dramatic and meaningful, but it just didn't fit the outline. And I know most of you are saying, "What??? They just _had_ an adventure! What about the romance??" So all I can say is, review, be patient, and you'll get your romance, don't worry.

About the nebula in the sky, I based my knowledge on the Crab Nebula, which is the remains of a star that exploded sometime close to 1000 A.D. If you're interested in that kind of stuff, google it, and you'll get a bunch of cool sites and pictures.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading! REVIEW!


	10. Chapter X: Illaqueati

**Chapter X: Illaqueati**

This chapter title translates to _Trapped_.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, or Draco Malfoy, in case you haven't figured that out by now. But I _do_ own…a fish! And not just any fish, but a Tiger Barb named Schmendrik (named after the magician from _The Last Unicorn_) which, incidentally, roughly translates to _idiot_ in Yiddish.

In this chapter: The musings of a Malfoy, Veiled compliments, and A desperate break for freedom.

Draco was in pain. A lot of pain. So much pain he was surprised his head hadn't already exploded and his feet hadn't shriveled up to nothing. He tried to focus on walking, on lifting one foot first, placing it down, and then the other, but his throbbing head and sore feet insisted on distracting him from his careful concentration on a body movement that was becoming increasingly more difficult to execute.

He felt as though he was walking over an extremely narrow bridge; every now and then he would come very close to the edge and, struggling to regain his balance, he would feel the edges of his mind giving in to the blackness threatening to engulf his senses before he righted himself once again and forced his exhausted legs to move a few more painful steps forward.

Glancing around in an effort to keep his conscious mind amid the world of the living, he realized that they were no longer on the path, but walking through the winding trees of the dark forest seemingly with no clear sense of direction in mind. Wondering why he had only just realized that the path was no longer beneath his feet, he did a mental check of his physical condition.

_Hmm_, he thought to himself sarcastically, _I've pushed myself to the limits of human endurance at least three times in the past twenty-four hours with next to no sleep and I'm wondering why I'm having trouble walking straight _and_ noticing my surroundings at the same time?_

He shook his head slightly, smirking at his sarcasm even in the worst situations. At least he knew his mind was still functioning in its usual way, something he had been desperately worried about since the time he had decided that it would be a good idea to kiss Weasley. What had he been _thinking_?

_Well, that's _definitely _not happening again_, he thought, making a mental vow as he glared fiercely at Weasley. After all, she was the one that had gotten them into this mess in the first place. If she had been paying the slightest bit of attention she would have heard the man walk up behind her, not just let him grab her, take her wand, and knock her out.

_What kind of idiot would miss something like that?_ he ranted silently in his mind. _I mean, I always knew the Weasleys weren't the most intelligent group of wizards, but this is just getting to the point of complete stupidity. _

Glad that he had finally repaired his recently dormant hatred for Weasley, he returned his attention to his surroundings not a moment too soon. The man with Weasley over his shoulder had just opened the gate of a crude wooden square pen that looked like it had once been used to house pigs or something equally disgusting. Before he had time to protest, Draco was shoved rudely through the gate and immediately fell on his side and rolled a few feet to the far corner of the pen where he lay glaring up at his captors and wishing he could move a bit more gracefully with his hands tied behind his back. The rogues merely laughed at his current position before throwing Weasley through the opening. She landed on her back just as ungracefully as Draco before rolling straight into him, obviously still unconscious. Draco managed one more icy glare before the gate clanged shut and they were left alone in the dirty enclosure.

Pulling himself roughly into a sitting position, Draco shoved Weasley away with his foot with a bit more energy than he meant to, resulting in her rolling over a few more times before again coming to a rest on her back. After a few more unsuccessful attempts to get his wrists out of their bonds, he resigned himself to the fact that he would have to think of another way to get them out of this alive.

Leaning back against the wooden fence and wincing as he felt the rough surface through his light shirt, (their robes were still lying in the vampires' clearing, transfigured into sleeping bags) he stared up at the dark canopy of the forest and tried to force his overtired brain to concoct a plan. It was several minutes before he registered the soft voice coming from the other side of their small prison.

Glancing over, he was surprised to see Weasley on her side,—why hadn't he noticed her move?—eyes open and whispering his name in obvious frustration. He moved over to her as quickly as he could in his present condition, mouthing, "What?"

"Is he looking?" she whispered so quietly he had to bend a little to hear.

He looked at her in confusion. "What?"

She rolled her eyes, before whispering in pronounced annoyance, "Is the man guarding this pen looking at us?"

Draco glanced at the gate discreetly, noticing the guard for the first time. He was lounging against a pole a few feet away, obviously bored and not paying especial attention to either of his charges.

"No," Draco said quietly. She breathed a sigh of relief before sitting up and brushing the dirt off her clothes and hair.

"I've been trying to get your attention for almost five minutes," she said very quietly. "What on earth were you thinking about?"

"A way to get us out of here," he muttered crossly before adding, "You couldn't untie me or anything, could you?" He jerked his head back, indicating his hands that were still tied tightly behind his back.

She smiled sarcastically and moved carefully around behind him, whispering almost to herself, "Well since you asked so nicely..."

A few minutes later, he gratefully stretched his aching arms out in front of him, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had chafed his skin.

"Thanks," he whispered grudgingly. She moved back around to his side, still smiling sarcastically, and whispered back just as grudgingly, "You're welcome."

He smirked at her for a moment, still stretching his limbs, before he was struck by a sudden thought.

"How did you regain consciousness so quickly?" he asked suspiciously.

She smiled again. "I never lost consciousness," she answered. "When that man hit me with his knife, I just moved down a little so it didn't hit my head so hard and I didn't pass out. It still managed to leave a bruise, though." She massaged the top of her head carefully, wincing slightly as she felt the tender area.

Smirking, he replied without thinking, "That was actually almost clever, Weasley."

She turned her head away, whether from embarrassment or for some other reason he couldn't tell. "I'll take that as a compliment," she answered with a tone that suggested she was still smiling, even though he could no longer see her face.

After a few moments sitting quietly in the unnaturally still darkness, Ginny turned back around to face Draco as if he had just spoken to her. Draco gave her a strange look and proceeded to ignore her. If she wanted to act even odder than usual, that was her business. After a few more quiet minutes had passed in this manner, with the silence becoming almost unbearable to Draco, he finally turned to look at her with a deep glare etched on his face. "What do you want?"

"Oh," she said as if slightly surprised, although Draco could sense a slightly sarcastic tilt to her head. "I was just waiting for you to elaborate on that plan of yours."

The glare deepened. "What plan?"

"The one that you've been thinking about for ten minutes now," she stated innocently, though Draco was now positive that she was being at least a little sarcastic.

He sighed quietly in exasperation. "I don't know, Weasley. Maybe _you_ should think of something this time."

"Hey, I saved your butt last time, didn't I?" she asked defensively, her sarcastic air vanishing. "It wouldn't kill you to come up with something on your own, you know."

"That was just dumb luck!" he hissed in his defense, "There was no planning on your part involved!"

"Oh, like your idea was so much better," she said, her voice rising slightly, though neither of them noticed, as they were both too intent on the budding argument. "Stay in the cave, Weasley, while I run outside like an idiot and distract the vampires! Never mind the fact that I have absolutelyno idea where I'm going or the horde of blood-thirsty creatures chasing me that are about to end my life in the most unpleasant of ways!"

"If I had stayed in that cave, they would have found both of us and there would have been no chance of either of us surviving!" he yelled, his face tinging a slight pink.

"And if_ I_ had stayed in that cave and followed _your_ plan, or complete lack thereof, you wouldn't even be here and I would probably still be stuck there or running around through this horrible forest!" she flung back at him, her hands balling into fists and her ears turning a fantastic shade of red.

He opened his mouth to retort, but finding he had nothing to say to this, he closed it again and opted for entering the glaring contest that probably would have gone on for a few more minutes if they weren't interrupted by the laughter of several rogues that had been watching them, attracted by the loud argument. Surprised, they both turned to face the source of the noise, scrambling to their feet in the process.

"Having fun, lass?" asked one of the men, smiling when Ginny simply glared at him.

"What's all this?" demanded a large man approaching the pen. Draco recognized him as the man who had first grabbed Weasley and who he also suspected was the leader. "Why aren't you men at your posts?"

Instead of rushing back to their assigned places, the men simply turned around to face the man, while one of them said in way of explanation, "The girl's awake, Gral."

Gral's demeanor immediately changed to one of anticipation. "Is she?" he asked, his voice suddenly much less commanding. "That was a fast recovery." He stepped up to the pen, looking at Ginny in a way that gave her the horrible pins and needles feeling that usually occurred when one of her limbs had fallen asleep.

Turning his head slightly, he spoke to the men over his shoulder. "What are you waiting for? You two," he gestured to two rather heavy-set men with deep, glinting eyes, "Bring her to the main tent." They moved forward quickly, unlocking the gate and beginning to pull it open.

"Wait!" cried Ginny, extending one hand as if she could ward them off with her will alone. The two men stopped and looked at her as if sizing her up. "What are you going to do with us?" she asked, a slight tremble in her voice which she couldn't control.

The leader laughed for a moment, while Ginny and Draco eyed him warily, before he replied, "Why, what any wise trader 'round these parts would do, of course!" He chuckled again, assuming that Ginny knew what he meant.

After another few seconds with no forthcoming information, Ginny tried again. "And what's that?" she asked defiantly in an attempt to sound braver than she felt though she could still feel her knees shaking slightly.

"Sold to the shades, of course," snapped another man in annoyance, as though Ginny was trying to sound idiotic.

"Exactly," said Gral, still smiling slightly. "How else do you think they let us live here, so close to the river?"

"You know where the river is?" asked Ginny desperately. Malfoy elbowed her slightly in the side, trying to get her to shut up, but she simply glared at him and turned her pleading eyes back on Gral.

"Of course," said another of the rogues, narrowing his eyes at Ginny suspiciously. "Everybody knows where the river is."

Ginny opened her mouth to speak again, but Gral snapped irritably at her, "No more stalling." Turning slightly, he addressed the two men still standing with the gate slightly open in front of them. "If you intend to make use of her before we sell them tomorrow night, you'll have to be quick about it."

The two immediately set to work pulling the gate out, even as Ginny asked quickly, "What are you talking about? I thought you were you going to sell me, not set me chores to do!"

Gral laughed again, but the two men didn't stop their attempts at yanking the bottom of the gate out of the mud. "We still intend to sell you, make no mistakes about that," he answered with an odd gleam in his eye that made Ginny's skin crawl. "But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun first, right?"

Ginny felt all the air leave her lungs as she finally understood what he was implying and her body began to shake even more. Frantically, she turned to Malfoy, hoping wildly that he had some sort of plan that could somehow help her out of this situation, but one look at his horrified face and she felt her stomach plummet. There was no way out. She was trapped.

Just as she had resigned herself to the worst and was preparing herself to meet her two assailants head-on, she was pushed to the back of the pen by Malfoy just as the first of the two men attempted to snatch at her.

"Run, you idiot!" he yelled at her, "Get the wands!" He ducked as one of his attackers swung a fist out at his face. "Hurry!"

Although Ginny didn't like the idea of leaving him to fight while she ran away, it was the only option available to them at the present time. Taking advantage of the momentarily stunned state of the rest of the men, she managed to scramble over the back of the pen and immediately took off running toward the center of the small habitat as fast as she could. If only she could get to her wand before the rest of the men caught her...

She heard a shout behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see the entire group of rogues chasing her and entirely too close for comfort. Fear pumping through her body, she redoubled her pace in her efforts to escape, but it still wasn't fast enough. She could hear the rogues laughing as they gained on her, obviously confident that she wouldn't be able to outdistance them.

As the central building came into view, Ginny felt a new surge of hope. Nobody was inside, which would make her frantic search for her wand much easier. With her eyes set upon the doorway and her mind already rushing through the most likely places to look first, she didn't recognize the obstacle in her path until it was too late. Even as she tried to stop, she braced herself for the impact as she ran straight into somebody's arm extended across the doorway, causing her to flip underneath the arm before falling on her chest and skidding a few feet along the ground until her head came in contact with a very solid object. Groaning and clutching her throbbing head, she turned her head, the edges of her vision beginning to grow dim. The last thing she saw before passing out was a group of men walking towards her with triumphant smiles on their faces and eerie glints in their eyes.

A/N: So, introducing a more adult theme into this chapter that will be touched on again in the next chapter. I apologize if you feel disgusted, grossed out, etc. by this, but it is part of the story, so please try to overlook it if that's how you feel. I tried my best to gloss over it and be as subtle as possible (possibly too subtle), but if you really hate this kind of thing, please don't flame about the content. If you must flame, do it about the grammar, OOCness, or something that I can change. Thanks and hope you enjoyed it! Review!!


	11. Chapter XI: Inopinatum Solacium

**Chapter XI: Inopinatum Solacium**

This chapter title translates to _An Unexpected Comfort._

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter series and no, I'm not J. K. Rowling. What I do own is a Pan's Labyrinth DVD, which I seriously recommend to everyone and anyone out there, so long as they don't mind personal violence. The story, acting, and music amid the violence are all too good to overlook.

In this chapter: The madness of Ginny Weasley, An unusual escape route, and A wrestling match.

~*~*~*~*~

"Malfoy, wake up! Please wake up!"

Feeling himself being shaken roughly out of his numb stupor, Draco became aware of Weasley still muttering frantically to herself, every now and then alternating with a quick reviving spell probably meant for him. Opening his eyes and pushing her away, he nearly laid back down from the sharp pain in his head.

"No, Malfoy, you have to get up, c'mon!" As soon as she realized he was awake, she started pulling him up with what he assumed was all her strength. As soon as he was standing by himself, she thrust his wand into his hand and turned around, yelling wildly, "Don't come any closer! It'll be the last thing you do!"

Blinking rapidly and trying to size up their situation, he realized there was something wrong with her. She was breathing far too quickly, there was a edgy and wild look in her eyes, and the hand that was holding her wand outstretched seemed to be trembling slightly. He was still in the filthy pen, but the gate seemed to have been blasted off its hinges and was now laying a few feet inside the enclosure. Scattered around the perimeter of the pen was what appeared to be the entire population of the encampment. They were a surly looking bunch, all men holding some form of Muggle weapon and glaring steadily at Weasley.

He quickly turned around so his back was to Weasley's back, holding his wand out threateningly and wondering how they were going to get out of this. Some of the mens' attention shifted to him, but he noticed that most of them continued to look firmly at Weasley with a mixture of anger, caution, and something that seemed a lot like fear, though that seemed unlikely to Draco.

"Now back off, or you'll be sorry!" Weasley said suddenly, her voice sounding much more raw than usual.

One of the men standing closer to Draco openly scoffed, lowering his crude club scornfully. "And why should we be afraid of the likes of you?" he asked mockingly, "A puny little girl with nothing but a little stick of wood!" He laughed, a horrible grating sound.

"Shut up!" hissed another man, "You don't know what that little stick of wood is capable of!"

"Or that puny little girl, for that matter," agreed another.

The first man just laughed again. As he made to take a step forward, Weasley jabbed her wand sharply in his direction. "Make another move and you'll regret it!" she shouted, her voice shooting out of control.

The man nudged forward, not enough to be called a true step, but just enough to make Weasley tense. The man next to him put a hand on his shoulder, but the first man shrugged it off, laughed, and took a real step forward this time. Instantly, Weasley shot a stunning spell at him, which caught him square in the chest and propelled him slightly backward from the force of the incantation. There was no mistaking the obvious fear in the other men now as they gasped and shuffled away from the pen.

"I told you we shouldn't bother with her," muttered the man that had been guarding their pen originally. "There haven't been magic folk in these parts nigh on a hundred years. We don't know where they came from, or what they can do." He seemed to be mainly addressing Gral, the leader of the encampment.

"Aye," said another man, stronger this time, "We should just let 'em go. We'd end up with half our men either dead or injured. It's just not worth it." Most of the other men were either nodding or murmuring agreement, glancing nervously at the pen, where Weasley was still standing in the same position, her wand hand visibly shaking.

Gral seemed to be considering this option, his gaze firmly upon Weasley, as if sizing her up. His eyes, Draco noticed, were filled with the same fear as most of his men, though he concealed it better than they did. Whatever was wrong with Weasley seemed to be working in their favor at the moment, so Draco decided to help it along any way he could.

"That's right," he said to Gral, startling some of the men, who seemed to have forgotten he was there, "You wouldn't believe what she's capable of when she's like this; it'd be better for you if you listened to your men."

Weasley looked round at him, startled that he had spoken up, with a rather amusing cross between anger at being insulted and gratitude for standing by her. He simply nodded discreetly to her before turning his attention back to Gral, who was eying him suspiciously. A tense moment passed: the men fidgeted, Weasley looked intently at Gral, still shaking rather badly, and Gral eyed the two of them carefully. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision and cleared his throat to speak.

"Let 'em go," he ordered his men, gesturing for them to move away from the pen, his jaw set in grudging respect. The men obeyed quickly; any who tried to protest were dragged roughly away by their companions. When all the men had moved a good distance away from the entrance of the pen, Gral bowed mockingly, gesturing for them to leave, a hard look of acceptance on his face.

Draco waited for Weasley to go first, but she seemed rooted to the ground, clenching her shaking hands tightly. Her breathing had slowed some, but there was obviously still something wrong with her. Draco nudged her, hoping she would take the hint before their opportunity slipped away. With what seemed to be a great amount of effort, she edged forward, her knees wobbling pathetically. Draco wondered what she had done to make these men so frightened of her even when she was so obviously out of control of her own body.

He put his hand on her shoulder, looking at her inquiringly when she glanced at him. She shook her firmly in answer to his unspoken question before swallowing determinedly and marching stiffly through the gate, her wand still pointed threateningly at Gral to insure his honesty.

It felt almost surreal to walk calmly out of the encampment when Draco had expected them to have to flee while frantically throwing spells over their shoulders. Weasley walked forward quickly, looking almost robotic in her steps. She seemed to have a destination set in her mind, so Draco just followed her while glancing back every now and then to make sure they weren't being followed.

When Draco figured that they were far enough away to relax, he grabbed Weasley's arm to stop her. When she just shrugged out of his touch and continued marching forward, he frowned and tried again.

"Weasley, where are you going?" he asked, "We're far enough away. If we were being followed, something would've happened by now." She stopped abruptly and although he couldn't see her face, she seemed to be processing what he had said before slowly nodding and turning to face him. Draco was taken aback; even with all the time that had passed, she still had a rather frightening look in her eyes, something wild that Draco usually associated with a trapped animal. An immediate concern for her welled up within him so suddenly he even surprised himself.

Gripping her trembling shoulders until she looked at him, he lowered his face until they were on the same level before saying as calmly as he could, "Okay. What on earth is wrong with you?"

Her eyes darted around, looking anywhere but right at him. Then, to his utter surprise, her bottom lip began to tremble, her eyes welled up with tears, and she let out a loud, uncontrolled sob.

She seemed as shocked as he was by her reaction. She covered her mouth with her hand and tried to wipe her eyes with embarrassment, muttering an apology. He felt a strange wrench in his chest he didn't remember ever feeling before and wondered briefly if there was something wrong with him. Then, deciding that he truly didn't care, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms comfortingly around her.

Almost as if she had been waiting for him to do so, she clung to him and sobbed unrestrainedly into his shirt. Not knowing entirely what he was doing, he smoothed her hair and murmured what he hoped were soothing things to her. He felt her suddenly lean her weight on him and realized that her knees had finally given out on her. Before she could slide down anymore, he hoisted her into his arms, sat against the most comfortable tree he could find, and set her down on his lap, still clumsily attempting to calm her.

Some time later, just when he was beginning to think she would never stop, her sobs retreated into hiccuping gasps that became more and more infrequent until finally she had stopped crying altogether and just lay there in his arms, clutching his shirt and wiping her face rather pathetically. Wondering why he didn't just push her away, he instead pulled her closer and cleared his throat expectantly.

When she didn't seem to take the hint, he asked quietly, "Are you going to tell me what happened now?" She looked up at him, seeming startled to find him there.

"Huh?" was her most eloquent response. He rolled his eyes, not able to help the small smile that crept onto his face.

"Well, you could either explain or start crying again," he drawled as unsympathetically as he could. Dropping the tone, he looked at her as if in sudden thought. "You aren't going to cry again, are you?"

Something in his frightened question seemed to amuse her, as she giggled weakly before smiling at him in surprised gratitude. Looking down at her, he felt the same wrench in his chest as he had earlier and realized that her small smile was all he needed.

"Well," she began shakily, laying her head back down on his chest, "When I got free of the pen, I ran straight to the main tent to look for our wands, but someone tripped me and I knocked myself out for a few minutes...at least I think it was only a few minutes...but when I woke up, they heard me and they...tried to...well..." She trailed off, shrinking into his arms even more.

"They didn't actually...er, well, _that_, did they?" he asked cautiously. She still seemed rather upset and he didn't want to accidentally send her off into another fit of crying.

"No," she murmured as he let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. "They certainly tried to, but I lost control. I...I think it was accidental magic. You know, the kind most people use before they get their own wands, when they're upset or in danger."

"What did you do?" he asked curiously.

She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought, before saying quietly, "It felt almost like a shock wave, just a burst of magic. It sort of spread out"—she moved her arms out from her chest in a vague motion—"and knocked them all back. Most of them were too stunned to do anything, so I just grabbed the wands and ran as fast as I could. I wasn't really thinking clearly at the time, but the next thing I remember is trying to revive you."

She looked at him, looking a bit concerned. "It took me way too long to wake you up. What happened when I left you there in the pen?"

He considered stretching the truth, but decided to go with honesty since she most likely wouldn't believe him if he lied anyway. "I dodged about two more hits before they knocked me out," he said wryly. "What did you expect when I didn't have my wand?"

With a slightly smug smile, she nudged his shoulder with her fist, saying, "Yeah, you are rather pathetic, with or without a wand."

Faking a glare, he rolled his eyes and pushed her off his lap and onto the ground, where she lay glaring up at him in surprise. "You're not too brilliant yourself," he taunted with a smirk.

With a mischievous smile and an attack cry, she launched herself at him, pushing him to the forest floor with her hands on his shoulders. He blinked in surprise before letting out his own, albeit much more cultured, battle cry and launching his counterattack. For several gloriously childish minutes they wrestled around on the ground as if they were ten years younger before Draco successfully pinned her to the ground.

"Ha!" he cried victoriously, as she struggled valiantly beneath him.

"Let me up so I can clobber you properly, Malfoy!" she growled, trying to free her arms so she could shove him off.

He leaned in close to her glaring face before whispering smugly, "Not a chance, Weasley." Her glare weakened as she noticed his proximity and he could see a blush beginning to form across her cheeks. Noticing how close he was himself, he blinked several times before pulling away hurriedly before he did something else he knew he would regret later.

He stood up and dusted himself off, making sure to keep his back to her. "We should get some rest while we can," he stated matter-of-factly. "It sounds like we'll be able to get to the river hopefully by tomorrow...or today," he amended, glancing at the rising sun.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, nodding in surprise at his sudden change in demeanor. "Okay," she muttered cautiously.

"I'll watch first," he offered, his back turned to her so she wouldn't be able to read him. "You get some rest."

"Er, thanks," she answered after a pause. He heard her settling herself as comfortably as she could on the ground, but didn't allow himself to relax until he heard her steady, rhythmic breathing signifying that she was indeed asleep.

Glancing around to make sure she wasn't faking, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her curled into a tight ball at the base of a tree, her hair spread across the roots, obviously fast asleep. Gazing at her steadily, he contemplated why he didn't feel angry with her for failing to retrieve the wands, or annoyed at her pathetic crying outburst, or even awkward after the strange kiss they had shared earlier. In fact, the only things he had felt toward her since he had most recently been woken up were concern and protectiveness, two feelings he would've sworn a week ago weren't within his emotional capabilities.

As he looked thoughtfully at her, she murmured something in her sleep, tucking her head deeper into her arm and smiling slightly. Without warning, he felt the same strange pang in his chest as before and put a hand to his heart in surprise. It was almost like his heart was expanding in his chest, too full to be confined by his ribcage. But too full of _what_? Rubbing his chest absentmindedly, he decided he didn't want to know the answer to that, especially since she seemed to be able to evoke these feelings in him just by smiling in her sleep.

Grimly turning away from her, he decided that he would have to keep his distance from her tomorrow if he didn't want his life to get far too complicated when they returned to Hogwarts, especially with the already overwhelming life complications the Dark Lord was placing on his family.

Sighing resignedly but with a new determination to keep her away from the utter mess that his life was sure to become this school year, he returned to watching the eerie forest, trying his best to stay awake and alert. Barely a few minutes had passed by when he caught himself nearly falling asleep on his feet, his head nodding against his chest. Shaking himself slightly, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and watched the surrounding forest intently. Unfortunately, there was little to pay attention to except the soft chatter of birds and the warm rays of sleep-inducing sunlight playing through the gnarled trees.

Several minutes later found him trying to catch himself before he almost fell over after falling asleep again. Cursing and flailing in a rather undignified manner, he managed to right himself at the last moment. Deciding that it would be better just to go to sleep, he stumbled over to Weasley and plopped down ungracefully next to her. He checked the trees one last time to make sure that they wouldn't be attacked in their sleep, but it seemed that most of the dangerous creatures of the forest preferred to avoid daylight.

Sighing in utter exhaustion and defeat, he rolled onto his side facing away from Weasley. Right before he fell asleep, he realized how close she was to his back—he could feel her soft breathing against his thin shirt—and remembered his determination to keep as far away from her as possible. In his exhaustion, he dismissed the nagging thought and slipped into the beckoning confines of sleep, comforted by the soft sunlight and her presence at his back.


	12. Chapter XII: Margo Timoris

**Chapter XII: Margo Timoris**

A/N: Back again! This is the second to last chapter, with the last being more of an epilogue than anything, so we're almost there, folks!

This chapter title translates to _The Edge of Fear._

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to the many and varied franchises that go with it, but I do own a snazzy pair of newly acquired rain boots.

In this chapter: The morning after, A long march, and A new beginning.

~*~*~*~*~

Ginny woke slowly, feeling warm but highly uncomfortable against the hard forest floor. Still half asleep, she arched her back experimentally, feeling the dig of a large tree root on her spine and the unexpected warmth of a foreign arm on her front. She blinked her eyes open quickly and gazed dumbly at Malfoy's collarbone about an inch from her nose. She trailed her eyes up onto his sleeping features, subconsciously noting his almost invisibly pale lashes and pointed nose.

Now fully awake and starting to blush as she recalled her confusion from the last two nights, she awkwardly tried to extract herself from between his body and the tree behind her. She froze when his eyes fluttered open at her movement, first sleepily bemused then quickly gaining some stilted awareness. They traded gazes for a moment, strangely fascinated by the space between them and the possibilities it might hold.

Finally, Malfoy pulled away and stood up, keeping his eyes down and his movements carefully measured. Ginny, ears burning, tried to stand gracefully but failed when she tripped over the same tree root she'd been sleeping on.

Catching herself on the trunk and determinedly eying the ground, she heard Malfoy let out a soft swear.

"What?" she asked, glancing up in confusion.

"The sun's nearly set," he answered quietly. "We need to get moving." She tried to make out if he was clenching his jaw or if it was just the evening shadows playing tricks on her eyes.

He glanced back sharply, glaring at the branch above her head. "Well?"

She blinked. "Well, what?"

It was definitely his jaw, she decided. "Which way?"

"Oh." She moved slowly away from the tree, trying to get her bearings. Malfoy shifted his eyes to a spot near her left foot.

She attempted to conjure a clearer picture of the map she'd seen back in the camp. It had only been for a moment...

Malfoy shifted his weight, tapped his foot impatiently, and finally snapped, "I'm surprised you haven't already gotten a top leadership job, what with these fantastically quick decision-making skills."

Frowning at the nasty edge to his voice, she snapped her head round to glare at him, only to find him narrowing his eyes at a blank space decidedly three feet away from her.

"If you're going to insult me, at least have to courtesy to look me in the eyes," she shot back, confused and angry.

His eyes finally snapped onto hers and Ginny almost lost herself in the look, full of something she couldn't name, before he asked with overt patience, "Which way, Weasley?"

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and suddenly feeling very tired. Glancing at the last sliver of the sun, she pointed wordlessly and started walking.

~*~*~*~*~

They had only been walking for a couple hours and Ginny already thought it might be the longest night of her life. The sun had set unnaturally quickly and the sky had long ago faded to deepest blue, only distinguishable against the forest in glimpses from the corner of her eyes. She kept walking in what she fervently hoped was a straight line, trying to ignore the increasingly neurotic buzzings of her paranoia screaming that she was going the wrong way and Malfoy's oppressive silence solidly present behind her.

He hadn't said a word, not even so much as cleared his throat, since they'd set out and Ginny kept fighting her urge to either shout insults at him or demand to know what she was to him. She sighed as she picked her way around a tree root nearly invisible even in the wandlight. Besides how physically exhausted she was (their nights spent in comfortable sleeping bags seemed so long ago), her emotional capacity to be jerked around this much was coming to an end.

Whatever their odd flavor of normal had been, their strange friendship they had managed at the beginning of their journey, was as far distant as cushy sleeping bags. Now, between the kiss and the confusion and awkward proximity alarms that had followed, not to mention Malfoy's odd determination to pretend nothing had happened, Ginny was at her wit's end. It's not like she was really the poster child for expressing her emotions properly, especially romantic emotions (her hopeless crush on Harry in particular came to mind), but—Wait. Did she seriously just compare how she felt about Harry to _Malfoy_?

Her foot snagged on a tree root and her wand went flying from her hand, going dark as it hit the forest floor. She teetered on the edge of her balance for a moment before Malfoy grabbed one of her flailing arms and righted her.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley!" he hissed.

Rising up to his unexpected anger, she snatched her arm back and glared at what she could see of his face. "What's your problem, Malfoy? It's not like I wanted to trip!"

He completely ignored her question and raised his wand, looking pointedly at her empty hand. "Where's your wand?" he asked, his face doing that strange trick of hiding all emotion.

She sighed, feeling drained and horribly like she wanted to cry. "Somewhere over there," she said, waving her hand vaguely in the right direction and looking determinedly downward.

It took them nearly fifteen minutes of searching for the wand before Ginny found it by almost crushing it under her foot. She straightened up with her wand lit and realized she was now completely lost.

She hesitated, Malfoy's silence somehow much worse than his impatience would have been. She cleared her throat awkwardly, trying to think sensibly.

"I think we should probably continue in the morning," she murmured, trying not to sound too pathetic. "When we can follow the sun."

There was a heavy pause. "Are you saying you're lost, Weasley?"

She flared up immediately at his disdain, relieved to be feeling something other than awkward confusion. "No, I'm saying _we're_ lost. Because whether you care or not, you're stuck with me, so that means you'll have to follow my decisions when I'm the navigator and _talk_ to me every once in a while, for Merlin's sake!"

He blinked once then pointed blankly to the right. "It's that way."

She blushed but held fast to her disbelieving look. "That's the way we were headed when you fell," he said, answering her unspoken question. He didn't smile, but there was enough of a quirk to his eyebrows to make her blush even further. "There's your tree root friend."

She looked where he indicated and vaguely recognized where her foot had been snagged. She glared at the tree as if it had committed some unforgivable sin. "Fine," she grumbled. "Then _you_ can lead."

Without a second's hesitation, he set off into the trees. Swallowing miserably against her burning cheeks, Ginny followed.

~*~*~*~*~

After another few hours with nothing to keep her occupied other than her disconcerting thoughts and avoiding tree roots, Ginny was ready for something to break the monotony, even if it meant running for her life yet again.

After many circular arguments with herself, she'd finally come closer to admitting some sort of attraction towards Malfoy, even if most of it obviously stemmed from him being the only person she'd seen for...weeks? Months? How long had it been since they'd come here again?

Ginny sighed, staring at the back of his head in annoyance. She bet _he _wasn't having trouble with any crazy arguments with himself, _he _could just pretend nothing had ever happened and go back to how they were before... Her spiteful thoughts trailed off, leaving her wondering why the thought depressed her so much. What was wrong with the old status quo? Wasn't that what she had wanted from the beginning anyway? To go back to Hogwarts, with Malfoy safely back in enemy territory, and see all her friends again? To hug Dean, to laugh with Luna, to spend time with Harry? She blinked suddenly, startled. She hadn't thought of Dean, her own boyfriend, in a long time...possibly as long as she'd been here. What was wrong with her?

She was so caught up in this new train of thought that when Malfoy stopped suddenly, she walked straight into him. He didn't even glance at her, his alert attention focused completely to one side of them.

She looked where he was watching, rubbing her nose. "What is it?"

"Do you feel that?" he whispered, a slight edge of fear in his voice.

She stilled, reaching out with her senses, and was suddenly aware of a rushing noise coming from somewhere in front of them. She looked in that direction and was startled to see a faint pinkish glow filtering through the trees; dawn was on its way. And abruptly, she recalled that strange man with the yellow eyes she'd met in the inn and his odd riddles that her and Malfoy had spent some time unraveling...something about a river becoming a portal...when the sun rose and set! That noise, it was water, flowing water; it must be the river!

"Malfoy!" she cried ecstatically, running toward the sound, her earlier fear completely forgotten. "This way! It's the river; we can go home!"

She vaguely felt him try to stop her, grabbing as she went by, but she evaded him easily, running recklessly away. Her mind was in a state of euphoria; all she could think about was seeing Hogwarts again, eating a warm meal in the Great Hall, playing Quidditch with her brothers, and finally escaping all the confusing emotions that went with being around Malfoy...

She could hear him behind her, his feet pounding as quickly as hers. He was shouting something, something with a desperate edge to it, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but getting to the river as quickly as possible...

Suddenly, a piercingly high screech tore through her excitement, her happy thoughts of home vanishing in a cold burst of fear. The air was impossibly black and heavy, weighing down her feet, her heart pumping erratically against it with terror.

There was something in front of her, a black wall blocking the dawn light, the sound of the river no longer audible. She stumbled to a halt, lifting her wand shakily toward the black, trying desperately to remember the incantation for something...light, warmth...what was it? Her mind stuttered hopelessly against the fear surging through her veins, cold, alive, and mindlessly hungry.

She felt rather than saw Malfoy stop close behind her, breathing and desperate. His hands were on her shoulders, clutching and shifting, while he whispered her name in scattered breaths.

What felt like the last sane piece of her mind ruthlessly took over for a moment, long enough for her head to clear so that she could turn away from the blackness and face Malfoy. He was glancing from side to side in utter distraction, seeming incapable of anything else. She felt darkness creeping into her mind again, blotting out her thoughts, her name, even Malfoy's face in front of her. The wood in her hand fell to the floor; why was she carrying it again? She was slipping, falling helplessly down, scrambling against herself, but there was something..._be not afraid_..._dissuade the masked terror_..._find a face to dissuade_...

No longer sure if she was herself, if it was the madness acting instead, she frantically grabbed the sides of Malfoy's face and pulled him toward her. She saw his eyes, the pupils almost blotting out the irises, finally focus on her, maybe with some clarity, maybe without, she couldn't be sure, before she pressed her lips against his, clinging to him to anchor herself against everything pulling against her. His arms wrapped around her almost instantly, clutching her helplessly as he moved against her and whispered something between their mouths.

With a single-mindedness she knew to be survival, she focused only on this. The friction of lips, the wet of mouths, fingers digging through hair, grasping clothes and skin beneath: there was nothing in the world but this.

Faintly, gradually, she became aware of tension evaporating, leaving with a sense of reluctance. Her fingers relaxed where they had been clutching his hair, the fear she had blocked out from earlier leaving her mind slowly. She felt his hold on her loosen from bruising to something approaching tenderness. He still moved against her, his mouth wandering from her jaw across her face before catching her lips once, twice more. She stroked through his hair, sighing against his mouth.

"Weasley," he murmured, kissing her once more, a slight pressure, before his breath moved up across her nose and into her hairline. He briefly pressed his lips against her forehead, more of a caress than a kiss, whispering something she couldn't make out. She slumped bonelessly against him, feeling more drained than she could ever remember as he rested his head heavily against hers.

They stayed like that for a few moments, the warm support a welcome relief to the chaos of a few minutes ago. Finally, Malfoy pulled away, clearing his throat slowly, as though he had forgotten how to do it. They looked into each others faces for a moment, marveling quietly as the dawn light slanted faintly through the twisted trees. It was as though the darkness from earlier had never been, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Ginny was the first to break eye contact, looking down to pick up her wand and turning to face the sound of the river. There was a faint bluish glow coming from up ahead: the portal. Her previous excitement about returning home was still present, but with it a twinge of bitterness; she doubted things would ever be the same again. But was that really a bad thing?

She felt Malfoy come to stand beside her, looking ahead. It was hard to feel anything other than warm contentment looking at his clear expression in the new dawn, her confusion and resentment difficult to recall. He gestured questioningly and they began to walk slowly forwards.

"Everything will be different now, won't it?" she asked. His eyebrows came together in thought, a frown appearing on his face before it was replaced by a small smirk.

"Not necessarily," he said quietly, raising an eyebrow at her.

She frowned in suspicion. "What do you mean?"

He turned away, a smile playing in the quirk of his eyebrows. "Well, for example, I'll never be able to call you Ginny, I still think Weasleys have no pride in their lineage, and Slytherin will always be the only civilized House."

She punched him in the shoulder, none too gently. "If that's the worst I have to look forward to, I think I'll be able to cope," she replied, trying in vain to keep the stupid smile off her face.

He rubbed his shoulder ruefully before his expression suddenly turned serious. "And Weasley?"

"Hm?"

"Don't be too disappointed if my father disowns me."

"What?" she asked, startled.

There was a snide edge to his voice now. "Well, I know how much you were looking forward to actually knowing somebody with money for a change..."

She tried to force the smile off her face with a murderous frown, but was largely unsuccessful. Ignoring the comment about her wealth, she asked carefully, "Are you really going to talk to him?"

He was silent for a moment, deep in thought. "Yes," he answered with quiet conviction. "My future is my own. I'll not go along with something I don't wish for anymore."

A warm glow rose up in Ginny's chest; she had never been so proud before. "But don't think this means you've reformed me," he sneered suddenly, eyes narrowed at her expression. "Some things won't change."

She sighed in resignation, not feeling all that disappointed. "I wouldn't expect them to."

~*~*~*~*~

By the time they reached the river, they were moving at something of a stilted jog, glancing worriedly at the rising sun as it climbed higher above the horizon.

"Finally," sighed Ginny as the river came into view around a cluster of trees. "I thought we'd have to wait 'til sunset."

The river was indeed a true river, stretching what looked like 10 meters from bank to bank, the water glowing a cold and unnatural blue in the red light of the sun. They stood side by side on the bank, gazing across at the rushing expanse.

"So now what?" asked Ginny. "We just jump in?"

She went to test the temperature of the water with her hand before Malfoy pulled her back hurriedly by the other hand. "What are you doing, Weasley?" he asked exasperatedly. "We have to enter together, remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry," she answered, frowning.

He sighed, shaking his head. A moment passed while they watched the river and contemplated what to do, oddly reluctant to break the silence.

"I suppose," began Malfoy, hesitantly clearing his throat, "I suppose we don't _have _to..." He was still holding her hand, Ginny suddenly noticed.

"Staying here won't change a thing," she answered him, tightening her grip. "The worst that could happen is we get wet and try something else at sunset."

He looked at her, startled she had read his thought so readily, before his face hardened and he nodded determinedly.

"Okay then," Ginny said, preparing herself to jump. "On the count of three. One, two, three!"

They both sprang out into the shallows, Malfoy overshooting her a little and awkwardly yanking her forward. As her feet sank into the freezing glow of the water, she felt her movements slowing down, the blue light intensifying until it blotted out her vision, her hair whipping around her head in a powerful, screaming wind. She had a sudden flashback to their first terrifying journey through the portal and reached out blindly for Malfoy as she was sucked into a whirl of light and sound.

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it and the epilogue is on its way! Reviews are love.


	13. Chapter XIII: Domus Iterum

**Chapter XIII: Domus Iterum**

A/N: Oh wow, can you believe this story is finally complete? I just want to thank all my reviewers and readers, without whose support this would never have been finished. So, without further ado, enjoy this last installment of _Iuva Me ut Sentiam_!

This chapter title translates to _Home Again._

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter franchise(s), Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy, or any other character appearing. But I do own my own copy of _Hot Fuzz_, yes! So, jog on.

In this chapter: A librarian's screech, Various conversations, and Happily ever after.

* * *

Even with having been through the portal once before, Ginny was still shocked by the all-encompassing wind and noise. She clung to Malfoy's shoulders desperately, trying to ignore the feeling of her body being compressed, her ears ringing with pressure, her legs thinning to noodles, and the air slowly but surely escaping her lungs. Her hair was everywhere, Malfoy's fingers were digging into her sides, she could no longer feel her feet, and suddenly it was over.

They were lying on the dusty library floor, breathing heavily and dripping river water everywhere, gazing at their ordinary surroundings with wide-eyed wonder and breathless smiles. Then, all too quickly, Ginny's windblown mind was forced to come to terms with the sound of footsteps and the unearthly screech of Madam Pince.

They both winced and scrambled to get up, trying to breathe normally as the frenzied librarian snatched the book off the floor, brushing off water and dust as she railed on about trespassing and befoulment of school property. Ginny realized with dismay they had nothing going in their favor: they had been caught lying in the middle of the restricted section with a restricted book lying open on the floor and were both completely soaked and filthy. She made a futile attempt to smooth down her hair and skirt, painfully aware neither of them were wearing the required school robes. By the time the tirade was over, they had both accumulated four double detentions each, to be carried out on Friday evenings for the next month.

Ginny sighed despondently as she gathered her things from her long-abandoned study table, feeling exhausted and bedraggled. She gazed out the window for a time, still unable to believe she was actually home, taking in the grounds like a starry-eyed First Year on her first day. Her hair draped against her cheek and Ginny winced at the coarse limpness of it, combing it away from her face disgustedly.

"It's a lost cause, Weasley, don't bother," came a snide voice from behind her.

"Huh?" she asked, turning to glare at Malfoy.

He smirked at her and pushed off the shelf he'd been leaning on. "This," he said, reaching forward to finger the end of her hair.

She shoved him off, scoffing. "Why are you still here?" she asked suspiciously, "I thought you'd already be halfway to the dungeons by now."

"Crabbe and Goyle scarpered, so I thought I'd stick around to see you off," he answered, bitterness creeping into his voice. "But if you'd rather I were gone I can always—"

"No, sorry, that's not what I meant. I just thought things would be...different again."

"...Different?" he asked, backing into the aisle.

Ginny reached out almost unconsciously, but stopped herself, forcing her hand back to her side. "Well, I mean," she began, awkwardly settling back on her heels to suppress the urge to reach out again, "You can't fault me for expecting you to fall back on the status quo. I mean, you never gave me your word or anything so how would I know if you wouldn't just, y'know..." She trailed off, suddenly feeling nervous and thirsty and so very stupid. What was she even _saying_?

"Is that what you want? My word?" he asked. There was something hard in his tone now and Ginny experienced a sudden feeling that something had gone very wrong.

"No!" she cried, louder than necessary. She couldn't look at him, but glanced back at the window, swallowing sudden tears. _Stupid_. What was _wrong _with her? "I don't know why I said that, I just—" she shut her mouth with a snap, wincing at her shaking voice.

They stood in tense silence for a few moments, silhouetted in dusty gray light. Ginny focused on breathing, suddenly obsessively worried about choking.

Finally Malfoy leaned forward, a strange look on his face. "You're an idiot."

Ginny clocked the table with her bag in her haste to turn and glare at him. "You—" she cut herself off, staring in disbelief at the hand extended to her.

Malfoy sighed impatiently. "I'm not going to stand here all night, Weasley."

She grabbed his hand, if only to shut him up. As they started to walk away, she grimaced at herself, tightening her hold. "I'm sorry," she murmured, looking resolutely at the floor.

"Hm," Malfoy agreed. "That's nice, but meek doesn't suit you."

Her head snapped up. "I was being repentant, not meek! Just forget I said anything then!"

"Well, whatever you'd like to call it. It's not like I'm an expert judge on Gryffindor—"

"Oh, shut it."

* * *

Adding together Madam Pince's four weekend-ruining detentions plus the one accumulated from McGonagall that morning (Ginny could hardly believe it was all of ten hours ago), Ginny spent a good portion of the month in Malfoy's company doing a variety of revolting and tedious chores. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to spend the honeymoon phase, but anything else might have forced them to come to terms with their, erm..."relationship", as it were, complete with an awkward pause and implied quotation marks.

Hermione was of course the first to notice that something was off, though how anyone else hadn't was a mystery to Ginny, what with her and Dean breaking it off for no reason at all and Malfoy giving Pansy Parkinson the cold shoulder at every turn. Perhaps because it was so very unlikely, she mused. Who would think to pair her and Malfoy up, after all?

It wasn't until a little later in the year that Ginny learned of Hermione's knowledge, in a long and memorable conversation involving many expletives and tears, especially after Hermione had divulged Harry's obsession with trailing Malfoy only for him to discover that the Slytherin was now reporting to Dumbledore instead of the Death Eaters and Voldemort as Harry had theorized. Needless to say, the resulting conversations Ginny had with both Harry and Malfoy almost immediately afterward had just as many expletives and tears, though they ended up working it all out in the end.

Malfoy's father did end up disowning him for a time, though this was quickly revoked as soon as Lucius and Narcissa were safely away from Voldemort and his vicious cycle of blackmail. When the Malfoys were revealed to be under the protection of the Order of the Phoenix right around the Christmas holidays (much to their dismayed gratitude), Ginny deemed it the best time to also reveal her association with the younger Malfoy. The subsequent backlash from her family and friends, not to mention the Malfoys, complete with tearful entreaties, furious rows, and fending off well-intentioned trips to see a mental healer at St. Mungo's, was completely expected though no less stressful.

Malfoy kept a remarkable calm through the whole affair that Ginny was forced to admit might come in handy for future events. Such events were looking more and more likely as time went on, through disgusting double detentions, Hogsmeade visits, and semi-regular breaks for banter.

Though Ginny and Malfoy never disclosed what had happened in the "Portal Book", as they had taken to calling it amongst themselves, they were highly aware that without that particular adventure, by turns thrilling, pleasant, and utterly terrifying, they wouldn't be where they were today, though neither of them would change that for the world.

* * *

A/N: The end! I realize that last part was rather like a cheesy "Where are they now?" segment, but I couldn't help myself. I hope you've enjoyed your journey through this particular story, and please spend a moment of time to write a review or drop a glance at my profile. Thanks for sticking with me through the tedious waiting periods (all those who have, anyway) and til next time!

-Girl With a Pearl Earring


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